Layoffs in big tech: if LinkedIn also cuts instead of finding work

9 May 20231 year ago babelfish

In 2022, 1056 technology companies laid off a whopping 164,511 employees. And in 2023 the situation is getting worse: Amazon has announced another 9,000 cuts, Intel cuts budgets and costs such as Meta, Spotify, Zoom and Snap. And now LinkedIn is also proceeding with the layoffs…

For some it is already the fault of the AI, of ChatGpt and associates. And it is pointed out that many chatbots have actually already taken the place of switchboard operators in the unpleasant activity of filtering between the user and large companies. For others it's all the fault of the pandemic hangover that has drugged some slices of the market, linked to home entertainment or smart working activities and for this reason grown dramatically with the lockdowns, only to then deflate with a return to normal. What is certain is that even if Microsoft's LinkedIn lets itself go into layoffs, the situation looks really grim…

LICENSES IN LINKEDIN

LinkedIn, the social network that serves to match supply and demand in the job market, has in fact announced 716 layoffs in view of a massive restructuring that should also involve the phasing out of its China-focused jobs app.

THE LETTER FROM THE CEO

LinkedIn chief executive Ryan Roslansky said the trimming of roles across sales, operations and support teams is aimed at streamlining the company's operations, Reuters reported. “As the market and customer demand fluctuates more, and to more effectively serve emerging and growing markets, we are expanding the use of suppliers,” explained the CEO.

“We are also eliminating levels – added the number 1 of the social network controlled by Microsoft -, reducing management roles and expanding responsibilities to make decisions faster”. In the letter Roslansky assured that the changes will lead to the creation of 250 new jobs. But in the meantime, the trap will start for over 700 employees.

THE CUTS OF THE PARENT COMPANY, ALSO IN ITALY

The restructuring of the social network should not come as a surprise, given that the parent company, Microsoft (it acquired LinkedIn in 2016 for over 26 billion dollars) has announced ten thousand redundancies to save 1.2 billion dollars.

Redundancies which, as anticipated by the Wired site, should also concern Italy, precisely 59 positions between Rome and Milan out of a thousand total places in our country. In detail, about fifteen would be managerial positions while the rest would fall on the sales sector.

THE OTHER BIG TECH SCISSORS

At the end of March, Amazon announced a new maxi round of layoffs: 9,000 units which add up to the previous 18,000 workers removed from their positions at the beginning of January. The decision to make a new cut was made after the conclusion of the company review process which resulted in redundancies especially in AWS, PXT, Advertising and Twitch. A "difficult solution", explains CEO Andy Jassy, but considered "the best for the company in the long term".

And it is the whole world related to software and entertainment, from video games to those who, like Disney , manage channels and amusement parks, suffer. And in fact, 11,000 employees will soon leave the fairy-tale castle with boxes in hand. Last November Meta announced the first round of cuts which involved 11,000 people, equal to 13% of the total workforce, and will soon cut the same number, freezing 5,000 hirings in the pipeline. "Will be difficult. It will mean saying goodbye to talented colleagues who have been a part of our success,” Mark Zuckerberg commented bitterly.

The cuts suffered by Twitter with the arrival of Elon Musk are already well known to all. It seems that Intel, already recovering from an unspecified slimming cure, is ready for a new round of cuts. Rumors report that the reduction in the workforce could be the result of a 10% reduction in the budget available to the Client Computing Group (CCG) and Datacenter and AI Group (DCAI) divisions, which according to analyst Dylan Patel would mean a cut in the workforce of the two divisions equal to 20% in total.

Google has imposed itself on a diet of 12,000 fewer units, Ericsson of 8,500, similar fates have also befallen PayPal, which should reduce its workforce by 2,000 employees, Spotify by 600, Zoom by as many as 1,300 which represents 15% of the total, Snap one-fifth of the approximately 6,500 workers. Lots of people looking for employment who are pouring into LinkedIn in this period, which paradoxically is also proceeding with layoffs.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/licenziamenti-linkedin/ on Tue, 09 May 2023 08:50:57 +0000.