TOPLINE
Zoom—which took off as employers quickly pivoted to remote meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic, announced plans on Tuesday to cut 1,300 employees—becoming the latest U.S. company to implement job cuts as recession fears continue into 2023.
TIMELINE
February 7 In a message to employees, Eric Yuan, the CEO of online meeting platform Zoom, unveiled plans to slash roughly 15% of the company’s workforce as “the world transitions to life post-pandemic” and amid “uncertainty of the global economy”—cutting approximately 1,300 positions after it tripled its staff at the outset of the pandemic.
February 7Atlanta-based cybersecurity company Secureworks announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing it will cut 9% of its staff (estimated to affect roughly 225 of its nearly 2,500 employees, according to PitchBook), as it looks to reduce spending amid a “time when some world economies are in a period of uncertainty.”
February 6Jet maker Boeing confirmed to multiple news outlets plans to cut around 2,000 jobs in finance and human resources this year, though the firm said it will increase its overall headcount by 10,000 employees “with a focus on engineering and manufacturing.”
February 6Texas-headquartered Dell Technologies, which owns PC-maker Dell, could cut roughly 6,650 employees, reportedly citing “uncertain” market conditions in their decision to move beyond earlier cost-cutting measures, while analysts noted a crash in demand for personal computer products—which makes up the majority of Dell’s sales—after a pandemic high.
February 2Okta CEO Todd McKinnon unveiled plans to reduce the tech company’s workforce by 5% (roughly 300 positions) in an SEC filing on Thursday, citing over-hiring over the past several years that did not account for the “macroeconomic reality we’re in today.”
February 1NetApp, a San Jose, California-based cloud data company, announced plans in an SEC filing to lay off 8% of its staff (estimated to affect 960 employees) by the end of the fourth fiscal quarter of 2023 “in light of the macroeconomic challenges and reduced spending environment.”
February 1Boston-based online sports betting company DraftKings also said it plans to cut 3.5% of its global workforce, in a cost-cutting move expected to affect approximately 140 employees, the Boston Globe reported. February 1FedEx announced it would slash 10% of its officer and director team and “consolidate some teams and functions”—four months after the delivery giant unveiled plans for a hiring freeze and that it would close 90 office FedEx Office locations—in a move CEO Raj Subramaniam said was necessary to make the company a “more efficient” and “agile organization” (FedEx employs roughly 547,000 people, according to PitchBook). February 1Electric automaker Rivian Automotive will cut 6% of its staff, CEO R.J. Scaringe said in an email to employees seen by Reuters, just over six months after the company laid off another 5% of its roughly 14,000 employees.