Tech Layoffs 2024: Why Companies Are Slashing Jobs and Restructuring

The tech industry has been undergoing significant transformation in 2024, leading to widespread layoffs across both well-established giants and emerging startups. Despite the tech sector continuing to show resilience and growth in areas like AI and cloud computing, numerous companies are being forced to scale back their workforces.

Economic challenges, post-pandemic corrections, and strategic shifts toward automation and artificial intelligence have driven many of these layoffs. This year’s workforce reductions impact a diverse range of roles, from sales and marketing to engineering and product development.

Below is a detailed overview of the most notable tech layoffs in 2024, offering insight into the reasons behind these cuts and the companies affected.

Dell has cut around 12,500 jobs, representing roughly 10 percent of its workforce, as part of a larger company-wide restructuring effort to build a “leaner” workforce focused on AI and cost reduction.

Facing losses in its foundry business and declining sales in the PC and GPU sectors, Intel is laying off 15,000 employees, which represents over 15 percent of its total workforce. The company is reorganizing its resources to focus on key growth areas and deal with a challenging market​.

Tesla has reduced its workforce by 14,500 employees, approximately 10 percent of its total, in response to rising costs in the electric vehicle sector and intensifying competition​.

Cisco is holding its second major round of layoffs this year, bringing their total layoffs to more than 10,000 employees (12 percent of its workforce), as the company shifts its focus towards cybersecurity and software while scaling back hardware operations.

SAP cut 8,000 jobs (approximately 7 percent of its workforce), 2,600 of which are located in Germany, as the company transitions away from legacy software towards cloud computing and AI-driven services.

PayPal reduced its workforce by 2,585 employees (about 9 percent of its global workforce) in 2024. These layoffs are part of a broader effort to streamline operations and improve profitability amidst increased competition in the fintech space.

Unity Technologies, a prominent name in the gaming industry, implemented a major round of layoffs in 2024, cutting approximately 1,800 jobs (25 percent of its workforce). The company is dealing with financial constraints and shifting its focus to core business areas.

Amazon continues to downsize in 2024, cutting thousands of jobs across various departments, including AWS, Amazon Health Services, Prime Video, and Amazon Studios. This is part of a broader cost-saving initiative that began in 2023, following overexpansion during the pandemic​.

Twitch laid off just over 500 employees (roughly 35 percent of its total workforce) in 2024 as part of a major restructuring effort. The Amazon-owned streaming platform is realigning resources to better compete in the highly competitive live-streaming market​.

Meta reduced its number of vice president positions from 300 to about 250 this year, following a bigger layoff of around 10,000 employees in 2023 as part of Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency.” The cuts are designed to streamline operations as Meta shifts its focus toward the metaverse and AI innovations​.

Toshiba laid off 4,000 employees in 2024 as part of its major restructuring efforts under new ownership, aiming to focus on its energy and infrastructure businesses. The company is slimming down its workforce to realign with these long-term goals​.

Twilio laid off 295 employees (about 5 percent of its workforce) in Q1 2024, following a bigger reduction of around 1,500 jobs (or 17 percent of its workforce) in 2023. This is part of a restructuring effort to simplify its operations and focus more on profitability and its core communication platform​.

Spotify dismissed 40 employees globally from its account and campaign management teams (2.7 percent of its ad sales team, and 0.5 percent of its overall workforce) in 2024, the latest job cuts since a massive reduction of 1,500 jobs (17 percent of its workforce) in December 2023, as the company aims to streamline its podcasting and content creation divisions​.

Lyft plans to lay off 1 percent of its workforce this year. The rideshare giant previously laid off 1,072 workers (roughly 26 percent of its workforce) in 2023. The company is restructuring to cut costs and increase its competitiveness against Uber​.

IBM is cutting more than 1,000 jobs across its China locations, the next round of layoffs since the company reduced its workforce by approximately 3,900 employees in 2023 as part of a restructuring program aimed at simplifying operations and preparing for AI-driven business growth​. The company also paused hiring in 2023 while planning to replace nearly 8,000 roles with AI.

Netflix cut 15 jobs in 2024 due to a major restructuring of its film department. This is a relatively small number compared to the 300 employees laid off in June 2022 as part of cost-cutting efforts, as the company deals with increased competition in the streaming space and rising production costs​.

Salesforce cut a total of 1,000 jobs in 2024 across two rounds of 700 roles in Q1 and another 300 roles in July. The company had previously laid off around 7,000 employees in 2023 as part of its continued effort to reduce costs amidst slowing growth in the cloud computing sector​.

Zoom, a major player in the video conferencing market, cut about 150 jobs in 2024, following a larger layoff of 1,300 employees (about 15 percent of its workforce) in early 2034, as the company adjusted to slower post-pandemic growth and focused on maintaining profitability​.

Oracle cut over 3,000 jobs between early 2023 and mid-2024 from its recently acquired electronic healthcare records firm Cerner, while the company continues to focus on its core cloud services and AI offerings​.

Discord reduced its workforce by 170 employees (17 percent of its workforce) in 2024, citing the need to streamline its operations and focus more on growth in core areas like gaming and social features​.

Snap laid off about 500 employees (10 percent of its global workforce) in early 2024, part of its efforts to return to profitability amidst fierce competition in the social media space and shifting advertising budgets​.

Online furniture retailer Wayfair cut 1,650 jobs (13 percent of its workforce) in 2024, as it adjusts to post-pandemic demand shifts.

Block, the parent company of Square and Cash App, reduced its workforce by 1,000 employees (10 percent of its workforce) in response to challenges in the fintech space.

Real estate tech company Redfin laid off just under 100 workers (less than 2 percent of its workforce) in 2024 as part of an effort to manage costs in a challenging real estate market​.

If you’re planning to conduct tech layoffs in 2024, click below to download our free Essential Guide to Handling a Layoff to learn how to considerately transition your employees and successfully navigate the delicate layoff process from start to finish.

Download the Essential Guide to Handling a Layoff

Considerately transition your employees with these best practices

Download

The continued surge of tech layoffs in 2024 can be attributed to several converging factors. One major driver is the broader economic headwinds faced by the global economy. Companies are still grappling with inflation, rising interest rates, and a slowdown in consumer spending. These pressures have led tech firms to look for ways to reduce costs. Now, with their resulting lower revenue projections, they’re forced to continue cutting jobs to align their operational costs with the current economic climate.

Post-pandemic adjustments also play a crucial role. During COVID-19, many tech companies hired aggressively to meet the increased demand for digital services. However, as the world normalizes, these same firms are finding themselves overstaffed. Companies that expanded too quickly are now downsizing to correct this costly imbalance.

Another significant factor is the shift toward AI and automation. Companies like Dell and Intel are restructuring as they focus more on artificial intelligence, often at the expense of roles that are no longer aligned with their future growth strategies. By reducing headcounts in non-strategic areas, they can reallocate resources to high-growth sectors like AI.

Profitability and efficiency pressures are also pushing tech firms to cut jobs. Companies like Meta have launched initiatives aimed at improving their financial performance through workforce reductions. This can be seen in Meta’s “year of efficiency,” which aims to streamline operations and increase profitability by cutting thousands of jobs.

Finally, market saturation and heightened competition in various tech sectors, such as cloud services, e-commerce, and electric vehicles, are forcing companies to become leaner. Firms like Tesla and Cisco are reducing their workforce in an effort to stay competitive and manage costs in these crowded markets.

Career transitions in today’s tech industry can be overwhelming, especially for those affected by layoffs. Job seekers often face uncertainty about whether new opportunities align with their skills and long-term goals. Questions about how to translate experience and adapt to the evolving demands of the tech industry also add to the challenge. This uncertainty is not only felt by the impacted employees, but also by company leaders who need to manage layoffs while maintaining trust and morale within the organization.

Outplacement services offer a solution that benefits both employers and employees. For organizations, these services provide a structured way to manage transitions, reducing the negative impact on brand reputation, supporting affected employees, and maintaining morale among surviving staff. Outplacement services alleviate stress by offering job seekers resources like personalized coaching, resume writing, interview preparation, and networking strategies. Outplacement firms like Careerminds ensure that displaced employees are better prepared to re-enter the job market, smoothing the overall transition.

Modern outplacement services, especially virtual ones, offer flexibility that is critical in a fast-paced tech environment. They give employees access to real-time webinars and learning tools that help keep them updated on the latest industry trends. Relying on outdated training methods can hinder job seekers’ ability to stay competitive, but virtual platforms provide an adaptable and relevant approach to upskilling.

Careerminds goes further with its Virtual 2.0 platform, using cutting-edge technology to help job seekers find roles faster. By continually updating job search tools and techniques, our proprietary platform ensures participants have access to the most current market insights. Whether they’re an executive changing careers after many years or an employee more familiar with job transitions, each participant receives personalized support from career coaches and accessible resources through our online platform. This technology-driven approach is essential for effective outplacement in a tech-focused landscape.

If your organization is considering outplacement services, check out our easy-to-follow buyer’s guide that will go over our Careerminds outplacement process in more detail. Click below to speak to our outplacement coaching experts and see if Careerminds is the right partner for your organization.

Speak with an Expert

Learn why we're the right partners for you.

Download

Cynthia Orduña

Cynthia Orduña is a Career and Business Coach with a background in recruiting, human resources, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has helped 50+ companies around the world hire and retain talent in cities like LA, SF, NY, Berlin, Tokyo, Sydney, and London. She has also coached over 300 people, from entry to senior levels, in developing their one-of-a-kind career paths, Her work has been featured in publications such as Business Insider, The Balance Careers, The Zoe Report, and more. To learn more you can connect with Cynthia on LinkedIn.