Disney Reportedly Plans Job Cuts And Hiring Freeze —Here Are The Biggest U.S. Layoffs This Year
TOPLINE
Disney told company executives in a memo Friday it plans on implementing a hiring freeze and anticipates staff reductions—making it the latest major company to cut jobs this year, as many employers fear rising inflation could slide the economy into recession.
TIMELINE
Disney told executives it plans to implement “a targeted hiring freeze” and anticipates job cuts, according to CNBC, after reporting quarterly losses earlier this week, though it’s not clear how many employees will be affected by the changes.
Juul announced the layoffs, which are expected to affect roughly 30% of its workforce, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the embattled company secures additional funding from investors to avoid bankruptcy two months after it agreed to pay $438 million to settle a lawsuit from 33 states and Puerto Rico into claims the company marketed its products to teenagers, and as the company appeals the Food and Drug Administration’s ban on the sale of its vaporizers.
Barclays started laying off roughly 200 employees in its banking and trading departments this week, sources told Bloomberg, while Citigroup is cutting 50 trading employees, CNBC reported, following the lead of Goldman Sachs, SoftBank and Wells Fargo, which all implemented major job cuts earlier this year (Barclays and Citigroup did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Forbes).
Redfin announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing it would cut 13% of its staff (862 employees), while another 218 employees whose roles were eliminated will be given new positions in the company—its second round of layoffs in recent months following its decision to cut 8% of its staff in June as mortgage rates continued to climb, jumping to a 22-year high.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp parent company Meta, confirmed the social media company will lay off 13% of its workforce (11,000 employees) on Wednesday, blaming its low revenue on “macroeconomic downturn” and “increased competition”—making it one of the largest rounds of cuts for a major tech company so far this year, following a hiring freeze announced in September.
Salesforce cut fewer than 1,000 employees on Monday, a source familiar with the move told CNBC, and it’s reportedly planning to lay off roughly 2,500 of the company’s 72,223 employees (approximately 3.5% of its workforce, according to Pitchbook) for “performance issues,” Protocol reported, citing an industry source and a former employee.
Zendesk is planning to lay off roughly 350 employees, including 84 in California, SF Gate and the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing a tweet from a member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors referencing the company’s filing of a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice filed last week (Zendesk did not immediately respond to a Forbes inquiry).
Online financial services company Chime will lay off 12% of its staff, with the cuts expected to affect 160 of the company’s 1,300 employees, a spokesperson told CNBC, as the San-Francisco-based online banking and financial services company attempts to recapitalize “regardless of market conditions,” according to an internal memo obtained by TechCrunch.
Rideshare giant Lyft will reportedly lay off 13% of its staff, according to a letter from company officials obtained by CNBC, with job cuts affecting approximately 650 employees (13% of its staff of roughly 5,000, not including its contracted drivers), marking the company’s second round of layoffs this year, after it laid off 60 workers in July (Lyft did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Forbes).
Stripe announced plans to cut 14% of its workforce (roughly 1,120 of its 8,000 positions as of October, according to PitchBook) as the online financial services company contends with “stubborn inflation, energy shocks, higher interest rates, reduced investment budgets and sparser startup funding,” after the company “overhired” and “underestimated both the likelihood and impact of a broader slowdown,” CEO Patrick Collison announced in a statement to employees.
Billionaire Elon Musk reportedly plans to cut roughly 50% of Twitter’s 7,500 employees, multiple outlets reported Thursday—one week after the world’s richest man took over the company, with previous reports indicating he could lay off 25% and as much as 75% of the workforce, although Musk has walked back on that original number.
In a blog post released Wednesday, Opendoor CEO Eric Wu blamed the company’s job cuts, which affect 18% of its workforce, on “the most challenging real estate market in 40 years” and a “need to adjust our business”—as the housing market continues to cool in the wake of rising inflation and the Federal Reserve’s four rounds of interest rate hikes this year.
Upstart’s layoffs are expected to affect roughly 7% of the cloud-based AI lending company’s workforce, with cuts primarily among employees who work in loan applications, a spokesperson confirmed to Forbes, saying the move comes “given the challenging economy.”
Zillow, the Seattle-based online real estate company, plans to let go of 300 workers (roughly 5% of its nearly 5,800 employees), TechCrunch reported, nearly a year after it announced plans to lay off another 2,000 employees.
Seagate Technology CEO Dave Mosley said the cuts, estimated to affect 8% of the data storage company’s workforce, follow “global economic uncertainties” and reduced demand, as the company’s shares plummet to $53.69 from a peak of $117.67 in January.
Manufacturing giant Philips unveiled plans to lay off approximately 4,000 workers amid a “worsening macroeconomic environment,” with the cuts expected to affect more than 5% of the company’s workforce in both the Netherlands—where the company is based—and the United States.
