Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) announced to reduce employment by 10% on Tuesday, joining hundreds of other companies in doing the same. Here are some of the businesses that are applying the brakes.
Google’s parent firm, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), has been slowing down its hiring initiatives. Although the company hired 10,000 Googlers in the second quarter, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai informed staff this month that the company will slow hiring for the remainder of the year and prioritize engineering and technical skills. Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) said, like all companies, they are not immune to economic headwinds, and the hiring pause is part of that slowdown to enable teams to prioritize their roles and to hiring plans for the remaining part of the year. The company had nearly 164,000 employees at the end of March.
In April, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced that it needed to reduce its employees because it had become very large during the pandemic. Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said that as the variant subsided in the second half of the quarter and employees returned from leave. They quickly transitioned from being understaffed to being overstaffed, resulting in lower productivity. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has halted the construction of office buildings and subleased some warehouse space because it is still deciding how much space staff will need for hybrid work. As of March, the corporation employed 1.6 million people, making it the largest employer in the technology sector.
According to sources who are familiar with the situation, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is preparing to temper hiring and spending at some divisions next year to weather a potential economic downturn. However, it isn’t a company-wide policy, and the iPhone manufacturer is pushing ahead with a hurried pace for new product releases. When Apple’s most recent fiscal year concluded in September, it employed 154,000 employees.
In May, the online used automobile retailer Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) let off 2,500 workers or around 12% of its employees. According to a filing said to be with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the leadership team will make an uncommon decision by forgoing their wages for the remainder of the year to pay severance to fired individuals. At the end of the previous year, the corporation employed more than 21,000 full- and part-time workers.
To prepare for a downturn in the economy, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) notified its team in June that it would be laying off 18% of its workforce. Additionally, it revoked job offers. CEO Brian Armstrong mentioned in a blog post that they appear to be entering a recession after a 10+ year economic boom. While it’s hard to forecast the economy or the markets, they always plan for the worst so they can operate the business in any environment.
Featured Image: Megapixl @Mohammedsoliman4
