Layoffs across Meta, Amazon, Disney, others have a common script

Global tech giants Meta and Amazon, along with Disney and Indian fintech BNPL player Simpl are all set to embark on another round of layoffs.

Meta began another round of company-wide layoffs today, in what is a drive to downsize and restructure teams to achieve greater efficiency. The company’s founder Mark Zuckerberg had announced that Meta would cut about 10,000 jobs in the coming months, and close another 5,000 open positions that it hadn’t filled yet.

As per reports by international publications like The Washington Post and Vox, Meta’s layoffs were in technical teams, including those working on Facebook, Instagram, Reality Labs, and WhatsApp. This comes months after Meta laid off about 11,000 employees or 13% of its workforce in November last year.

Amazon also let go of some employees in its advertising unit on Tuesday, CNBC reported. The layoffs are part of the previously announced job cuts that are expected to affect 9,000 employees. Amazon has already let go of 18,000 people as part of earlier layoffs announced last November and in January. These come amid the company’s efforts to rein in costs.

Disney is also expected to hand out pink slips to thousands of employees starting next week, which will include 15 percent of Disney’s staff from the entertainment division, Bloomberg reported. Disney said in February it planned to eliminate 7,000 positions from its workforce of more than 220,000, part of an overall strategy to shave $5.5 billion in annual costs.

BNPL startup Simpl also announced layoffs, which could affect almost 25 percent of its workforce. Sources told CNBC-TV18 that Simpl has laid off more than 150 employees. In a letter to its employees, a copy of which CNBC-TV18 has seen, its founder CEO Nitya Sharma said the startup had to take corrective action as it over-hired during the pandemic, and was now faced with slowing e-commerce growth.

 After layoffs what? Techies face pay cuts, demotions in muted job market

Different companies but there is a common script for these massive job cuts — citing the tough macroeconomic environment and a need to find economic discipline in a new economic reality.

Firms hired aggressively anticipating the Covid-fuelled boom in all things online and tech to continue even after the pandemic, but that was not to be. The continued tightening by central banks around the world, decade-high inflation pinching consumers’ pockets, the Silicon Valley Bank triggered banking crisis in the West, an elongated war in Ukraine adding to woes, supply chain issues dragging and renewed geopolitical tensions between US and China have all contributed to making it a tough economic environment, and the pain is being felt by one and all.