These tech giants are still making money, but layoffs are coming hard and fast

From the US to Europe and Asia, from Microsoft and Google to Amazon, SAP and others, global tech giants have laid off thousands of workers since the start of the year.

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This is when most of these companies are in profit.

According to a report by financial services company Jefferies, “the reduction in headcount is a result of higher hiring during the pandemic and a slower growth outlook than originally forecast.”

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With interest rates and inflation remaining high amid uncertainty in the global economy, consumers are holding back on spending.

As a result, Jefferies analysts said, “Companies need to reduce headcount to achieve operational efficiencies with headcount matching current demand trends.”

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With interest rates rising, capital has become more expensive and companies have begun to rein in their headcount costs.

“Especially for startups, employment growth has been fueled partly by cheaper capital,” wrote a report by Bank of America Global Research.

Here are some of the leading global tech firms that have laid off employees despite earning big bucks.

Microsoft Posted net profit of $16.4 billion For the quarter ended December 31, down 8% from a year earlier. Its cloud business delivered results, with Microsoft Cloud revenue of $27.1 billion, up 22% year-over-year.

The firm also delivered “record results” in the financial year ending June 30, 2022. Despite “dynamic environment”, CEO Satya Nadella said at tech giants annual report,

He said in fiscal 2022, “we reported $198 billion in revenue and $83 billion in operating income. And Microsoft Cloud surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time.” reports,

Despite this, Microsoft announced in January that it was laying off 10,000 employees to make up for slowing revenue growth.

google guardian Alphabet It announced in January that it would cut 12,000 employees.

The company missed on earnings and revenue in the fourth quarter, but managed to post 1% year-over-year revenue growth for the quarter ended December.

CFO Ruth Porat said during the earnings call that Alphabet added 3,455 people during the quarter, most of them in technical roles.

He also told CNBC’s Deirdre Bossa that the company is meaningfully slowing the pace of bidding to deliver profitable growth over the long term.

CEO Sundar Pichai said in a memo sent to staff, “Over the past two years we’ve seen a period of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than today’s Is.”

Amazon It laid off more than 18,000 workers in January and is set to let 9,000 more in the coming weeks.

That’s despite posting impressive revenue in the fourth quarter of 2022 — beating analysts’ estimates.

Although net revenue in the quarter was up 9% to $149.2 billion, operating income declined to $2.7 billion from $3.5 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.

Overall, 2022 was set to be Amazon’s slowest year of growth since it went public in 1997. The e-commerce giant said it is bracing for the pressure of recession and a drop in consumer spending.

Germany’s SAP said it raised board guidance for full-year 2022, including a 24% increase in cloud revenue from a year earlier. The enterprise software company also returned to positive operating profit growth of 2%.

However, SAP announced in January that it was cutting 3,000 jobs as leadership seeks to steer the company toward double-digit profit growth in 2023.

Singapore-based tech giant CGroup reported net income of $422.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 – the company’s first quarterly profit since its 2019 launch.

Days later, the Indonesian unit of C’s e-commerce arm Shoppe conducted a fresh round of layoffs, according to which fewer than 500 full-time and contractual employees were affected. media reports,

Last year, the company Allegedly It has already cut more than 7,000 jobs – or about 10% of its workforce.

Other tech firms in Asia have not been spared either.

Indonesia’s GoTo Group, Singapore’s Sagar GroupCarousel, Foodpanda and South Korea Navar and Kakao are just a few of the companies that have laid off employees in the past few months.

posted by Dell Record revenue of $102.3 billion in fiscal year 2023 ended Feb. 3, up 1% from last year. Operating income increased 24% to $5.77 billion for the year.

In February, the PC-maker announced plans to lay off 5% of its workforce — or some 6,650 employees.

The headcount reduction was made in an effort to “stay ahead of the effects of the recession,” co-COO Jeff Clarke said in a memo to employees.

While FY2023 revenue has improved, Dell’s operating income decreased by 26% to $1.18 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023, as the demand for PCs and laptops globally slumps.

Apple The slow hiring pace compared to Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta has led to massive layoffs so far.

But the company making the iPhone also seems to be gearing up.

company Reportedly delayed bonus for some employees and limited recruitment in March. Apple let go of contract workers in August, according to a Bloomberg Report.

iphone maker missed expectations For revenue, profit and sales for multiple lines of business in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 that ended December 31 last year.

CEO Tim Cook attributed this to a stronger dollar, production disruptions in China and macro headwinds.

This list is not exhaustive.