With 2023 drawing to a close, ETtech looks at startups and tech companies, global and domestic, which laid off employees as they cut costs.
Tech companies
Accenture: IT services firm Accenture said it would lay off about 2.5% of its workforce, or 19,000 employees, becoming the latest major company to announce job cuts because of macroeconomic challenges.
IBM Corp: The software and consulting firm said it will lay off 3,900 employees. The company also forecast annual revenue growth in the mid-single digits on constant currency terms, weaker than the 12% it reported last year.
Cognizant: The US-based software exporter announced a two-year rejig to simplify the operating model and rationalising office spaces to the tune of $400 million. It expects the personnel-related actions of this programme to impact — lead to the termination of — around 3,500 employees or 1% of its total workforce.
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Spotify: Music streaming service Spotify cut 6% of its workforce or roughly 600 roles. CEO Daniel Ek announced the layoffs as part of an organisational restructuring aimed at increasing efficiency, reducing costs, and speeding up decision-making. Alphabet: Google parent eliminated 12,000 jobs or 6% of its global workforce, its chief executive Sundar Pichai told employees in an email. He later defended that the job cuts were made in a bid to act decisively as the company’s growth slowed.
Microsoft: In January, the US tech giant said it would cut 10,000 jobs by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2023. Microsoft undertook another round of layoffs in July. The firm sacked 276 employees at Microsoft, mostly in customer service, support, and sales teams.
Amazon: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a blog post on March 20 that the tech major will slash another 9,000 jobs affecting staff mostly in AWS, PXT, advertising, and Twitch. This was after the ecommerce giant in January this year said the company-wide layoffs would impact over 18,000 employees.
Salesforce: The software company said it would lay off about 10% of its employees and close some offices as a part of its restructuring plan, citing a challenging economy.
HP: HP Inc said it expects to cut up to 6,000 jobs by the end of fiscal 2025, or about 12% of its global workforce, at a time when sales of personal computers and laptops are sliding as shoppers tighten budgets.
Yahoo: Yahoo said it planned to lay off more than 20% of its total workforce as part of a major restructuring of its ad tech division.
Indian startups
Paytm: One 97 Communications, parent of Paytm, laid off more than 1,000 employees at multiple units. The financial services firm is looking to cut costs as it realigns its various businesses. The job cuts took place over the last few months and are likely to affect at least 10% of the overall headcount.
Dunzo: The troubled quick commerce firm sacked 150-200 employees in July this year taking the overall layoff headcount for this year to more than 450. The firm is struggling with a cash crisis and banking on a fresh capital infusion from its investor Reliance Retail.
ShareChat: Vernacular social media platform ShareChat said in December it will lay off 15% of its staff to streamline costs and achieve profitability within the next 4-6 quarters. Previously, it had handed pink slips to about 500-600 people in January.
Byju’s: ET reported in September that following the appointment of Arjun Mohan as the new India CEO, the company will undergo a major restructuring, including 4,000-4,500 layoffs. Previously, the edtech firm let go of about 495 staffers from its mentoring and product expert functions in August, sacked 500-1,000 full-time employees in June and handed pink slips to 1,000 in February.
Dealshare: Ecommerce firm Dealshare laid off some 130 employees in September, as it planned to shut down its business-to-business (B2B) vertical. Earlier, it sacked around 100 employees or over 6% of its then 1,500-strong workforce.
GoMechanic: The car servicing startup announced in January that it will lay off 70% of its employees even as SoftBank and Khazanah pulled out from a funding deal in the Sequoia-backed startup. One of the founders, Amit Bhasin, confessed to financial lapses.
Swiggy: In January, Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety told employees in an internal note that the company would sack 380 employees. Majety said the company’s food delivery business was growing more slowly than expected and that the company overhired over the past two years due to “a case of poor judgement” on his part.
Ola: Ride-hailing and electric vehicle company Ola laid off about 130-200 employees in a fresh round of layoffs. The layoffs have happened across the ride-hailing, electric vehicle, and fintech businesses. In September, the company rescinded the retrenchment of about 200 engineers.
Cashfree: Online payments service provider Cashfree sacked around 100 employees across sales and merchant onboarding as it looked to reduce costs and cash burn.
