Tech Sector Layoffs: Another Active Start to the Year
What We're Showing
We visualize some of the bigger layoffs in the year so far, from video game software provider Unity to big tech bastion Google. Data is sourced from Layoffs.fyi, an aggregator that has been collecting tech layoff news since 2020.
Key Facts
- Layoff season really began to gather steam by the start of the second week of January when video game software developer Unity cut a staggering one-fourth of their workforce, amounting to 1,800 employees
- A day later, streaming platform Twitch (owned by Amazon) fired 500 employees, or about 35% of their workforce
- On January 16th, YouTube (also owned by Google) laid off 100 people, saying they had six months to apply to different roles within the company
The Continuation of a Theme
So far in 2024, in an extension of events from the last year, there are two factors at play, both rooted in the pandemic. The video game industry (and the larger tech industry) say they over-hired in 2020 and 2021 to ride the increase in digital activity after social-distancing rules went into effect around the world.
In the post-pandemic world however, companies now say they simply expanded too quickly. Discord’s CEO Jason Citron said the company grew its workforce 5x since 2020 and now needed to scale back to “sharpen focus” and “bring agility” to the organization.
Meanwhile, for the larger tech companies (Google, Amazon, and Meta) the rapid rise of AI is causing a shift in internal priorities. While still rectifying the pandemic over-hiring, the companies are also trimming down other projects as they attempt to catch up with rival Microsoft whose OpenAI still remains a market leader in the space.