Tech Layoffs 2023: Apple And Over 100 Companies Laid Off Roughly 37,000 Employees In March

Mass layoffs across the tech industry kicked off last year as a broader economic downturn left pandemic-boosted companies with too many employees. In March this year, nearly 120 tech companies from around the world implemented layoffs across various departments, including Meta, Apple and Amazon.

For the month of March, 117 tech companies across different tech sectors had layoffs, according to data from the layoff tracker layoffs.fyi. The exact number of laid-off employees from the tech industry throughout March is unclear as some companies did not declare their layoffs count, but TechCrunch reported that more than 37,100 employees lost their jobs. Many companies such as big tech giant Meta reduced their workforces by the thousands.

Many of the companies that implemented workforce reductions over the past several weeks had a common reason behind the layoffs which is the current macroeconomic environment, as per TechCrunch. Others also cited necessary restructuring to improve efficiency, while some cited a shift in focus.

In the tech-media sector, streaming companies Hulu and Roku both cut 200 jobs while Stockholm-based Spotify let 15 employees go. Online education companies Domestika (45%), Unacademy (12%), Course Hero (15%) and Los Angeles-based Toucan (100%) also announced layoffs in March. Toucan, in particular, announced that it was "winding down."

In the telehealth sector, CoverMyMeds cut 800 roles, Better Therapeutics reduced its workforce by 35%, Color Health and Pristyn Care both laid off 300 people, and Neoleukin Therapeutics slashed 70% of its workforce. Neoleukin also announced last month that it has sought assistance from telehealth investment bank SVB Securities for a possible sale or merger.

Several fintech companies also joined March's list of layoff rounds. The pack was led by Zurich-based Comparis (10%), followed by Catch (100%), and other fintech firms Wave Financial (50 workers), Xero (800 employees), Kaleidoscope (30%), TradeWindow (30%), Laybuy (10%), FreshBooks (10%), Aspiration (170 people), Loop (25%) and LendingTree (13%).

New York-based Catch said it was shutting down after six years in operation. The personal payroll startup said it has sent emails to customers on how they can access and manage their tax payments and other related transactions.

Other notable layoffs that took place in March were at satellite radio giant SiriusXM and job listing sites Indeed and Glassdoor.

SiriusXM said it was cutting 8% of its workforce, affecting 475 employees. CEO Jennifer Witz wrote in a memo to staff that the layoffs would affect "nearly every department" across the company, CNN reported.

Indeed and Glassdoor both slashed 15% of their workforce last month, with Indeed letting about 2,200 of its employees go. Indeed CEO Chris Hyams said at the time that he took "sole accountability" for the thousands of jobs gone and he was taking a 25% cut on his base pay.

Glassdoor, which has a smaller workforce than Indeed, said it was eliminating 140 employees. The company said affected employees could choose to keep their laptops provided by the company to help them with job hunting.

In big tech, Amazon said it was laying off another 9,000 employees after it already said in February that it was eliminating 3,000 non-tech positions. The March layoffs were reportedly implemented in the e-commerce giant's consumer retail units.

Earlier in March, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said another 10,000 employees would be laid off after 11,000 jobs were eliminated in November. Facebook's parent company is also planning to pause hiring in 5,000 open positions that the social media giant once sought to fill.

The latest big tech giant to fall victim to the broader economic downturn is Apple, which had so far stood out among the rest of its big tech peers in the past few months as it held out and avoided mass layoffs.

Albeit on a smaller scale compared to the mass job cuts over at Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon, Apple will still let go of employees who are unable to reapply for other positions until the end of the week.

Other big companies that also eliminated hundreds of jobs last month were Lucid Motors, gaming giant Electronic Arts, London-based Just Eat, GoTo Group, Atlassian, Shopee, Thoughtworks and Loft.

As of Wednesday, 561 tech companies have implemented layoffs in 2023. Nearly 168,000 employees have been affected by the layoffs spree across the tech industry this year.