Layoffs

From nascent startups to established companies, tech layoffs are a reality of the business world. But during the past couple of years, layoffs have increasingly hit the tech sector, with impacts felt by workers across all industries and regions. In 2023 alone, more than 260,000 tech workers lost their jobs, with more than 80,000 already laid off in 2024.

Tesla’s layoffs and executive departures took a bite out of its share price this week. The well-known electric vehicle company shed around 10% of its staff, impacting an estimated 14,000…

TechCrunch Minute: Why Tesla’s big layoffs happened, and what comes next

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Tesla layoffs hit high performers, some departments slashed, sources say

Tesla management told employees Monday that the recent layoffs — which gutted some departments by 20% and even hit high performers — were largely due to poor financial performance, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The layoffs were announced to staff just a week before Tesla is scheduled…

5:35 am PDT • April 16, 2024
Tesla layoffs hit high performers, some departments slashed, sources say

Two high-profile executives have departed Tesla the same day that the electric automaker laid off thousands of workers, TechCrunch has confirmed. Drew Baglino, Tesla’s SVP of Powertrain and Energy, and…

Tesla execs Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel leave as company lays off 10%

From remote work to magnetic keyboard switches, we have your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups.

Startups Weekly: So are we all working from home now?

The 9-year-old Hinge Health offers a digital solution to treat chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions and was last valued at $6.2 billion in October 2021.

Virtual physical therapist Hinge Health lays off 10% of its workforce

Checkr, a 10-year-old startup that offers employee background checks, has laid off 382 employees — 32% of its workforce.

Checkr, the background-screening platform last valued at $5B, cuts 32% of workforce

Apple is laying off 614 employees in California after abandoning its electric car project. According to the WARN notice posted by the California Employment Development Department, Apple notified the affected…

Apple lays off over 600 employees in California after abandoning electric car project

Agility Robotics on Thursday confirmed that it has laid off a “small number” of employees. The well-funded Oregon-based firm says the job loss is part of a company-wide focus on…

Agility Robotics lays off some staff amid commercialization focus

ChowNow acquired Cuboh, a point-of-sale platform that consolidates all orders from delivery apps into one place.

ChowNow snaps up YC-backed POS platform Cuboh and is laying off staff

Banking-as-a-service startup (BaaS) Synctera has conducted a restructuring that has resulted in a staff reduction, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. While Synctera did not share how many employees were impacted,…

Synctera is the latest banking-as-a-service startup to lay off staff

Phantom Auto, a remote driving startup that launched seven years ago amid the buzz of autonomous vehicle technology, is shutting down after failing to secure new funding, TechCrunch has learned.…

Remote driving startup Phantom Auto is shutting down

Yet another AI-powered fraud detection software provider is laying off staff. Inscribe, whose platform works to detect fraud in areas like business underwriting, tenant screening and onboarding, has cut just…

AI fraud detection software maker Inscribe.ai lays off 40% of staff

People worry that advances in AI will lead to job losses, but rarely does a company’s CEO openly admit that AI will help to reduce their headcount. Turnitin, a plagiarism…

Turnitin laid off staff earlier this year, after CEO forecast AI would allow it to cut headcount

Motional, the autonomous vehicle company born out of a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, told employees Wednesday it will cut about 5% of its workforce, TechCrunch has…

Hyundai-backed autonomous company Motional cuts 5% of workforce

Bumble, a once-powerful force in online dating, is facing a reckoning. The company posted weak Q4 2023 results today showing a $32 million net loss and $273.6 million in revenue.…

Bumble cuts ~350 employees as dating apps face a reckoning

Sony is laying off around 900 employees in its PlayStation division, the company announced on Tuesday. The cuts will impact 8% of the division’s global workforce, as Sony becomes the…

Sony is laying off 900 employees from its PlayStation unit

Welcome, folks, to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter covering noteworthy happenings in the tech industry. This week, Google launched two new open large language models, Gemma 2B and…

Google releases new open LLMs, Rivian lays off staff and Signal rolls out usernames

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. Rivian…

A bumpy road for EV manufacturers

Rivian is laying off 10% of its salaried workforce in a bid to cut costs in an increasingly tough market for electric vehicles, putting even more pressure on its future,…

Rivian lays off 10% of workforce as EV pricing pressure mounts

Meati is another example of a tech company making layoffs that didn’t appear to be in trouble.

Meati Foods puts CFO Phil Graves at the helm as it cuts 13% of its workforce

Grocery-delivery giant Instacart announced today that it’s laying off around 250 employees, or roughly 7% of its global workforce, as part of a restructuring. Instacart CEO Fidji Simo said in…

Instacart lays off 250 employees, or 7% of its workforce, to ‘reshape’ company

After installing a new interim CEO earlier this month, Mozilla, the organization behind the Firefox browser, is making some major changes to its product strategy, TechCrunch has learned. Specifically, Mozilla…

Mozilla downsizes as it refocuses on Firefox and AI: Read the memo

We’ve finally had our mittens on Apple’s face-wearable computer. And, what can we say, it’s pretty astonishing.

The era of face-wearable computers

Grammarly is laying off 230 employees worldwide as part of a “business restructuring,” the company announced this week. The layoffs are part of Grammarly’s efforts to advance its focus on…

Grammarly lays off 230 employees as part of a ‘business restructuring’

Getaround, a company that helps vehicle owners rent out their cars, trucks and SUVs to other peers, is cutting 30% of its North American workforce as part of a restructuring.…

Car-sharing company Getaround cuts one-third of US workforce

DocuSign has revealed that it’s laying off 6% of its workforce, impacting some 400 employees. In an SEC filing, the e-signature software company said that the “restructuring plan” will mainly…

DocuSign lays off 6% of workforce as reported private equity takeover talks stall

Snapchat maker Snap is the latest tech company to conduct layoffs with its newly announced plans for a 10% workforce reduction, the company said on Monday. The layoffs would impact…

Snapchat’s parent lays off 10% of workforce in order to ‘reduce hierarchy,’ says company

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. Garry…

Maybe count to 10 before you tweet

Polygon Labs, the team focused on building the layer-2 blockchain Polygon, has laid off 60 employees, or about 19% of its staff, according to a post published Thursday by CEO…

Polygon Labs lays off 60 employees, about 19% of its staff, CEO says

U.S. access and identity management giant Okta has said it is laying off approximately 400 employees, or 7% of its global workforce. The layoffs come almost exactly a year to…

Okta lays off 400 employees — almost exactly a year after last staff cuts