2024 has been off to a turbulent start for the tech industry, marked by significant layoffs announced by large companies. In the first month of the year alone, thousands of employees were hit by staff cuts.
E-commerce giant Amazon has cut about 500 jobs, or 35% of its workforce, at its Twitch subsidiary, facing losses and executive departures. Indian fintech leader Paytm also made headlines by laying off over 1,000 employees, more than 10% of its staff, following the withdrawal of some services. Flipkart, another big Indian e-commerce player, is contemplating laying off 5-7% of its 22,000 employees, excluding Myntra, which could mean a reduction of 1,100-1,500 roles.
Unity Software
, a provider of tools for game developers, has announced plans to cut 1,800 from its global workforce. And AI startup Humane, with its first product on the way, made a smaller cut of 4% or 10 roles.
With tech giants and startups feeling the pressure, the industry is witnessing a worrying downsizing trend, indicating growing economic challenges. While companies aim for profitabilitythousands of talented employees are facing unexpected job losses.
Furthermore, Amazon plans to lay off several hundred employees from its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios divisions in the Americas this week, with similar cuts expected globally by the end of the week.
Google has fired several senior Fitbit executives, including co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman, along with employees from the Devices and Services teams who work on products like Nest, Fitbit and Pixel. These cuts suggest that Google is rethinking its hardware strategy and effectively dismantling the Fitbit brand it acquired for $2.1 billion in 2019.
The language learning app Duolingo has laid off some of its staff in favor of AI translatorswhile the chat and social messaging service Discord has announced that it will lay off nearly 17% of its staff. Based on a report from The New York Times, approximately 170 jobs will be impacted by the latest round of layoffs at Discord.
Finally, Amazon's Audible is laying off about 5% of its workforce, marking Amazon's third round of job cuts this week. This wave of layoffs reflects an increasingly challenging landscape for the tech industry, as companies adapt to a rapidly changing economic environment.
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