One of the clearest indicators that an economic downturn, if not a recession, is knocking at the door is when companies start with layoffs. Twitter was this week just the last tech giant that announced and executed a massive layoff, allegedly firing half of its staff. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison announced the layoffs of over 14% of its workforce, amounting to more than 1,000 jobs. Raid-hailing operator Lyft announced the layoff 13% of its workforce, or nearly 700. Brace for the Tech Winter.
Blockchain company Dapper Labs said it laid off 22% of its staff. Crypto exchange operator Coinbase has already reduced its staff by 18%, and online trader Robinhood has cut by 9%.
Amazon announced it would no longer fill certain corporate positions, while Apple stopped hiring in most departments. Facebook parent Meta and Google parent Alphabet have frozen hiring over the past few months.
Over the past decade, tech companies experienced an almost unprecedented bull cycle and spent lavishly, too. With a global recession on the horizon that could be much longer and harsher than many expect, these layoffs could only be at the forefront of a much broader layoff tsunami.
Over 90% of the U.S. CEOs already believe a recession is on the way, and over half said they’re planning preemptive layoffs within the next six months, according to an October survey from KPMG.
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