Year of layoffs? 50 companies that contributed 90k job cuts in 2022

The year 2022 marked the end of Covid-19 restrictions and the resumption of most economic activity. However, be it recession, inflation, employment crisis, or economic downfall, the ghosts of the pandemic can still be seen in various forms. Adding up to the crisis was job cuts that turned out to be one of the biggest crises that hit the world on the sidelines of the 2019 global health emergency. 

Worst of all, the economic downhill ride that began nearly three years ago has still not been curtailed. Amazon and Meta, two of the biggest tech behemoths, kicked out several thousand employees in 2022. Besides them, nearly other 50 enterprises laid off more than 90,000 staff globally. Here is a list of companies that issued pink slips to their workers in 2022.

1. Meta – 11,000

In November, the parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp reduced its workforce by 13 per cent and extended a hiring freeze through the first quarter of next year.

2. Amazon - 10,000

Amazon reportedly cut about 10,000 jobs. The tech giant said it has 1.54 million employees worldwide, including full-time and part-time workers but excluding contractors and temporary personnel.

3. Alibaba – 10,000

Chinese tech conglomerate Alibaba bid adieu to nearly 10,000 employees to cut expenses amid sluggish sales and the slowing economy. 

4. Credit Suisse - 9,000 

Credit Suisse Group went ahead with sweeping plans to cut 9,000 jobs in Asia. The move was part of the company-wide overhaul meant to draw a line under a series of scandals and help it recover from a £3.5bn loss.

5. Cineplex – 6,000 

At the beginning of the year, Cineplex Inc temporarily fired 6,000 part-time employees due to mandated closures of its venues amid surging Covid-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant. 

6. Tencent – 5,500 

Chinese conglomerate Tencent fired 5,500 employees, after posting revenue of $19.8 billion in the June quarter. 

7. Better.com – nearly 5,000

Digital mortgage company Better.com conducted three mass layoffs in about five months, citing a declining mortgage market. The company reduced its workforce from about 10,000 to less than 5,000, reported Tech Crunch.

8. Twitter – 4,800

Twitter had nearly 7,500 employees before Elon Musk took over and now it has about 2,700. The most recent round of layoffs took place on the night before Thanksgiving. This was despite the billionaire saying there would be no more termination at the company.

9. Peloton – 4,654

Peloton, the beleaguered at-home gym equipment maker, first terminated 2800 people in February. In July, the company laid off approximately 570 people, followed by 784 people in August. In the fourth round, the fitness company cut another 500 jobs. 

10. Ford - 3,000

Ford Motor Co axed about 3,000 white-collar jobs in an attempt to lower costs and make the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles.

11. Byju’s - 2,500

Edtech unicorn Byju’s announced in October that it will terminate 5 per cent of its workforce (2,500 employees), over the next six months. The company aims to become profitable by March 2023.

12. Morgan Stanley – 1,600

American multinational financial services company Morgan Stanley laid off about 1,600 employees out of the company's 81,567-strong workforce around the world. 

13. Blinkit - 1,600

India-based quick commerce firm Blinkit sacked 5 per cent of its total staff, which was about 1,600. 

14. Unilever – 1,500

At the beginning of the year, Unilever terminated 1,500 staff as part of a company-wide restructuring.

15. Unacademy – 1,350

In April, Unacademy laid off about 1,000 contractual and full-time workers. Later, the edtech startup slashed up another 350 staff.

16. Snap – 1,300

In August, Snap confirmed that it plans lay off around 20 per cent of its employees, which is approximately 1,300 employees to reduce costs.

17. Doordash – 1,250

Delivery service DoorDash recently issued pink slips to 1,250 corporate workers as part of a continued cost-cutting effort.

18. Lido Learning – 1,200

More than 1,200 of Lido Learning’s employees were asked to resign abruptly in the first week of February. Seven months later the edtech startup filed for insolvency. 

19. Vedantu – 1,100

Vedantu has sacked more than 1,100 employees this year. After the latest round of layoffs, the edtech platform has about 3,300 employees.

20. Microsoft – 1,000

Microsoft Corp laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions in October. 

21. Wayfair – 870

E-commerce Company Wayfair sacked 870 people, which is 5 per cent of the company's global workforce. 

22. Klarna –700

In May of this year, the CEO of Klarna used a pre-recorded video message to inform employees that around 700 of them were laid off.

23. Meesho – 650

In the first wave of the pandemic, Meesho laid off 200 people. Later, the company sacked 150 employees, followed by 300 in April. 

24. Oyo – 600

Softbank-backed Indian hotel aggregator Oyo terminated 600 staff in its corporate and technology departments.

25. Cars24 – 600

Used-car marketplace Cars24 kicked out around 600 employees in May.

26. Mfine – 600

Bengaluru-based healthtech startup MFine laid off around 75 per cent of its total workforce. 

27. Udaan – 530

Earlier, in June, business-to-business unicorn Udaan fired 180 executives as part of the startup’s cost rationalisation process. Later, it sacked 350 employees in the second round of layoffs.

28. Ola – 500

As the sale of its electric two-wheeler declined, ride-hailing major Ola sacked nearly 500 employees. 

29. Noom – 495

Weight-loss app Noom fired 180 coaches, followed by 315 more employees in April.  

30. Netflix – 450

To cut costs, Netflix Inc first fired 150 employees, followed by 300 people in June. 

31. Clear Capital – 378

Clear Capital, a real estate valuation technology company and firm, let go of 378 staff after freezing mass hiring. 

32. Wipro – 300

IT services giant Wipro fired 300 employees, who were found to be moonlighting for competitors. 

33. Plaid – 260

Plaid sacked nearly 260 employees, which amounts to 20 per cent of its workforce. 

34. FarEye – 250

New Delhi-based SaaS logistics startup FarEye issued pink slips to around 250 employees, which impacted workers at its India, North America, and Europe offices.

35. Tesla – 200

Tesla parted ways with 200 employees who were working on the company’s Autopilot driver-assistant system.

36. Walmart – 200

Walmart let go of almost 200 corporate employees amid the economic downturn and rising inflation. 

37. Furlenco – 200

The furniture rental start-up based out of Bengaluru fired between 180-200 employees from customer grievance redressal, scheduling and other similar customer support functions. 

38. Yaari – 150

In June, Indiabulls-owned social commerce application, Yaari laid off about 60 per cent of its workforce or 150 people.

39. Boeing – 150

Planemaker Boeing Co cut about 150 finance jobs in the United States this year, in an attempt to simplify the company’s corporate structure and to focus more resources on manufacturing and product development.

40. HealthifyMe – 150

Healthtech startup HealthifyMe laid off 150 employees in non-operations roles such as SME, quality analytics, product, and marketing. 

41. Chargebee – 142

Chennai-based revenue management startup fired 10 per cent of its workforce, which is 142 employees, citing adverse macroeconomic conditions. 

42. Decacorn Brex - 136 

Corporate spend management startup Brex kicked out 136 people, which is 11 per cent of its workforce, across all departments.

43. BlueStacks – 120 

Android gaming platform sacked 120 to 150 people out of 400 global workforce. This included 60 Indians.  

44. Carousell – 110

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce platform Carousell let go of 110 employees, or 10 per cent of its total workforce, to reduce costs.

45. Adobe - 100

In a bid to reduce expenses, Adobe has laid off nearly 100 employees mainly from the sales team. The software company employed around 28,700 workers, as per its Q3 2022 financial report.

46. Mobile Premier League – 100

Indian mobile esports and skill gaming platform, which entered the unicorn club in September, fired 100 people. 

47. Momentive Global – 100

Momentive Global, the parent of the web-survey portal SurveyMonkey, terminated 100 staff in October.

48. PepsiCo – 100

Pepsi maker PepsiCo will sack hundreds of workers at the headquarters of its North American snacks and beverages verticals. 

49. Innovaccer – 90

Healthtech startup Innovaccer, which entered the unicorn club last year, asked nearly 90 employees to put down their papers. 

50. Coinbase – 60

In November, crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc sacked over 60 employees in its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams.  

2022 brought us chaos, but also the opportunity to review, renew, and advance. Read the end-2022 issue of People Matters Digital Magazine for a look back, and some key takeaways to bring forward.