All expectations that 2024 would bring some respite in tech layoffs have fallen flat. According to the tracker Layoffs.fyi, tech companies have laid off more than 124,000 employees as of August 20, 2024, taking the overall tally of layoffs since 2022 to 428,449. A combination of factors including cost cutting to invest in the rapidly growing area of AI, a global downturn, over-hiring during the pandemic or even falling behind due to not having invested in AI at the opportune moment, have all led to a strong wave of layoffs in tech ranging from small, mid-sized and Big Tech companies.

Here’s a look at the major ones:

Microsoft

In January, Microsoft fired 2,000 employees from its gaming unit, sometime after it acquired Activision Blizzard. A second round of layoffs followed in June when Microsoft cut around 1,000 jobs in the tech giant’s cloud business Azure and the HoloLens mixed reality segment. 

Then in July, a third round of layoffs were announced in product and programme management roles to streamline organisational processes further. While the company didn’t confirm the number of people who were fired, the layoffs seemed to affect people globally. 

Google

Alphabet laid off 630 workers reportedly from across its Voice Assistant units, hardware teams working on Pixel, Nest and Fitbit, advertising sales team and their AR team. CEO Sundar Pichai said the layoffs were to “simplify execution and drive velocity.” 

On April 25, right ahead of its first-quarter earnings report, Alphabet laid off atleast 200 employees from what it called its core teams, including four vice presidents and 25 directors. 

Apple 

In May, Apple said it would be laying off 614 workers in California, some weeks after shutting down a long-running project to build an EV. 

Amazon

Amazon started the year laying off hundreds of workers from its streaming platform, Prime Video, and livestreaming site, Twitch. 

Amazon’s cloud computing business (AWS) laid off hundreds of employees from their sales and marketing segments and physical stores technology in April. The retail giant cut more than 100 jobs of customer service managers from Level 5 and Level 6 middle management positions in both call centers and virtually from either in the U.S. and India, in mid-May. 

Tesla

In April, CEO Elon Musk announced that the EV leader will be cutting “more than 10%” of its global workforce to cut costs. This could impact more than 14,000 employees globally. However, internal documents seen by CNBC showed that the company fired atleast 14% of their workforce. 

Dell

Computer manufacturer Dell made cuts in sales and marketing divisions as the company pivots to AI. While the company did not confirm exactly how many employees would be laid off, a SiliconAngle report stated it could be 12,500 employees based on an anonymous source. This is roughly 10% of their 120,000-strong workforce. 

Intel

The chipmaker announced 15,000 employees accounting for 15% of its workforce in the beginning of August due to weak results. The company is struggling to stay at par with other chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD which are leading because of the AI boom. 

IBM

IBM reportedly announced job cuts in their marketing and communications teams without revealing the exact number. Earlier in January the company’s CFO James Kavanaugh said that the company will probably be spending $400 million this year like last year when it cut its workforce by about 3,900 jobs.

Cisco

Digital communications technology company Cisco initially announced it will cut 5% of its workforce, impacting more than 4,000 people, back in February. Then, in the second week of August, the company said it would layoff 7% or more than 6,000 employees in a second round of job cuts. 

SAP

German software company SAP said in mid-January that will be restructuring nearly 8,000 roles within due to AI-driven efficiencies. Most of these positions would be covered by voluntary leave programmes and re-skilling measures. 

Salesforce

Cloud-based service company laid off 700 employees or around 1% of its staff in January. A few months later, there was a second round of firings with 300 employees. Last year, the company had cut a significant 8,000 workers or 10% of its workforce in January. 

Cohere

A day after announcing it had raised $500 million at a valuation of $5 billion, AI startup Cohere reportedly laid off about 20 employees accounting for nearly 5% of its total workforce. 

Stability AI 

In mid-July, the open-source GenAI startup said it would eliminate 10% of its workforce immediately after the exit of their former CEO Emad Mostaque.

TikTok

The popular short-form video platform eliminated around 60 jobs most of which were in sales or advertising across their U.S. offices in Los Angeles, New York and Austin. In May, TikTok said it would axe large portions of its operations and marketing teams. While the company didn’t confirm the numbers, a CNN report said that “most” of the 1,000 people who were a part of these teams would be fired. 

TikTok-owner ByteDance slashed around 450 jobs in June from its Indonesian e-commerce division which accounted for 9% of the unit.

YouTube

The video streaming platform will eliminate 100 employees as a part of its restructuring process within its creator management and operations teams. 

Snap

Snapchat’s parent Snap Inc. shared plans to cut 10% of its workforce or roughly 500-plus employees in February, in an effort to streamline layers of processes and “reduce hierarchy.”  

Match Group

Parent company of dating app Tinder, Match Group said they will be reducing 6% of its workforce in July. 

Bumble

In February, dating app platform Bumble said it was letting go of about 350 employees who accounted for 30% of its workforce. 

PayPal

In the end of January, fintech company PayPal began a restructuring program that would layoff 2,500 employees or 9% of its global workforce. 

Swiggy

Bengaluru-based food delivery startup Swiggy is reportedly cutting 400 jobs or around 7% of its workforce to slim down before it its IPO due to be filed in September. 

Unacademy

The edtech platform announced it would lay off about 250 employees in July after schools across the country opened back up following the pandemic lockdowns.

Byju’s

The struggling edtech company has sacked at least 10,000 employees in the last two years even as the company deals with lawsuits and shrinking funds. In April, the company fired between 100 and 500 employees as it continues its restructuring process. 

Ola

In June, the EV company said it would fire approximately between 400-500 employees across to push profitability ahead of its IPO. 

Koo

The Indian-version of Twitter stopped paying salaries to its employees this year from April before ceasing operations. The startup had laid off 30% its workforce already last year.

Paytm

In June, the fintech company confirmed that they had laid off an undisclosed number of layoffs. Since the ban placed on Paytm’s Payments Bank by the Reserve Bank of India, the company’s losses have grown.

Twitch

Livestreaming platform Twitch reportedly laid off 500 employees or 35% of its current staff in January as it costs rose. The company’s workforce has been cut down by 50% of what it was a year ago.

Discord

Instant messaging platform Discord said in January it would be laying off 17% of its staff impacting 170 people. CEO Jason Citron said that the company grew too quickly and wanted to sharpen their focus.