According to recent reports, the number of layoffs in the United States is rising. In fact, it has been estimated that over 2 million Americans will lose their jobs in the next year. Here are some of the companies that have already laid off some of their employees:
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis plans to cut 8,000 jobs, or more than 7% of its workforce, as it aims to save at least $1 billion over the next two years. The drugmaker announced changes in April, and CEO Vas Narasimhan estimated cuts would be in the “single-digit thousands.”
Reuters reports that Facebook parent Meta is bracing for a recession by aggressively pulling back on hiring. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will bring on roughly 30% fewer engineers in 2022 than it originally planned, slashing the number from 10,000 to between 6,000 and 7,000.
Pokemon GO developer Niantic also announced they recently laid off 8% of their employers. While the layoffs at Niantic may have been the most high-profile in San Francisco, they were far from the only ones.
Unity, a game development tools provider, has laid off hundreds of employees, Protocol reports. The company employed as many as 3,300 as of June 2020, the year it went public, but its stock price has fallen more than 40% since then. The company has been forced to make significant cuts to its workforce to stay afloat.
HomeLight, a 10-year-old real-estate company valued at $1.7 billion, announced that it laid off 19% of its workforce. The company attributed the layoffs to “recent challenges in the economy.”
Substack, a newsletter startup valued at $650 million, laid off 13 of its 90 employees about a month after ditching efforts to raise money because of the economic downturn.
Ironically, Hopin’s rapid expansion may have led to its current problems. The company has been on a buying spree over the past year, snapping up five other startups to grow its market share. However, this growth has come at a cost. Hopin has been forced to lay off 29% of its workforce to cut costs. The cuts come just four months after the company laid off 138 workers in a similar cost-saving effort.