Microsoft Leads Count As Thousands Of U.S. Tech Workers Face Layoffs
While only a tad over a handful of U.S. tech companies reported job cuts in the past couple of weeks, those reports added thousands of workers to our layoff tracker tally.
Leading the count is Microsoft, which says its plans to pare layers of management will result in approximately 6,000 workers being let go. According to a report from CNBC, the affected workers are from across all levels, teams and geographies. It is unclear exactly how many U.S. workers will be affected.
Big Tech makes another appearance this week with Amazon’s announced layoff of around 100 workers in its devices and services division in the third round of cutbacks that group has faced since 2022.
Santa Clara, California-based Chegg, a student media edtech platform, said last week that as a result of the proliferation of available AI-powered tools, it will lay off around 250 workers and close down its U.S. and Canada locations by the end of 2025.
And while not based in the United States, consumer electronics manufacturer Panasonic announced it is cutting about 10,000 positions with half that count taking place in its home country of Japan and the rest coming out of its global workforce. It’s not clear how many affected workers are in the U.S.
New additions
The following companies were added to the tracker this week:
Tech Layoffs: US Companies That Cut Jobs In 2022, 2023, 2024 And 2025
By the numbers
Layoffs during the week ended May 21, 2025: At least 6,485 U.S. tech sector employees were laid off or scheduled for layoffs, per a Crunchbase News tally.
In 2024: At least 95,667 workers at U.S.-based tech companies lost their jobs in 2024, according to a Crunchbase News tally.
In 2023: More than 191,000 workers in U.S.-based tech companies (or tech companies with a large U.S. workforce) were laid off in mass job cuts.
In 2022: More than 93,000 jobs were slashed from public and private tech companies in the U.S.
Companies with the biggest workforce reductions in 2024
Methodology
This tracker includes layoffs conducted by U.S.-based companies or those with a strong U.S. presence and is updated at least weekly. We’ve included both startups and publicly traded, tech-heavy companies. We’ve also included companies based elsewhere that have a sizable team in the United States, such as Klarna, even when it’s unclear how much of the U.S. workforce has been affected by layoffs.
Layoff and workforce figures are best estimates based on reporting. We source the layoffs from media reports, our own reporting, social media posts and layoffs.fyi, a crowdsourced database of tech layoffs.
We recently updated our layoffs tracker to reflect the most recent round of layoffs each company has conducted. This allows us to quickly and more accurately track layoff trends, which is why you might notice some changes in our most recent numbers.
If an employee headcount cannot be confirmed to our standards, we note it as “unclear.”
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a layoff?
A layoff can be either a permanent termination of someone’s employment — usually for cost-saving reasons — or a temporary one because there’s not enough work to justify a full workforce. Tech company layoffs generally fall into the permanent category.
A mass layoff is when a significant number of a company’s employees are cut in a short period of time, often as a result of economic conditions.
Why are tech companies doing layoffs?
Tech layoffs started to surge in 2022 and continued in 2023 and 2024. Companies have given various reasons for conducting layoffs.
Some companies — especially those in the e-commerce sector — nearly doubled their employee headcount to meet consumer demand during the COVID-19 pandemic’s stay-at-home mandates, and later found that they were overstaffed as daily life returned to normal.
Large tech employers such as Salesforce and Google parent Alphabet noted that their post-pandemic layoffs followed several years of rapid hiring fueled by fast growth — between 2019 and 2022, some companies nearly doubled their employee headcount. Some large tech companies also cited slowing sales and fears of a recession as reasons for downsizing.
Venture-backed startups, meanwhile, also cut jobs as a way to cut costs and preserve their cash reserves, as venture funding fell significantly after the peak in 2021. Some startups that ran out of cash and couldn’t raise new funding found themselves filing for bankruptcy or shutting down.
What were the biggest tech layoffs of 2024?
Intel Corp. laid off the largest number of people among U.S. tech employers in 2024, by our count. The semiconductor giant laid off more than 15,000 employees last year.
It was followed closely by electric-car maker Tesla, which cut more than 14,000 roles, and networking company Cisco, with more than 10,000 total roles cut.
In 2023, Amazon layoffs led the numbers with 16,000 roles cut. Layoffs at Alphabet, the parent company of Google, totaled about 12,000, and Microsoft’s layoffs totaled about 10,000 workers in 2023, as did Facebook parent Meta’s layoffs.
Many venture-backed tech startups have also done layoffs as venture capital investment has fallen sharply since the peak in 2021, and falling startup valuations factor into their decisions to conduct layoffs.
Are more tech layoffs coming?
Yes, more layoffs are likely coming. While there are signs that the volume of layoffs is tapering, experts we talked to expect job cuts in the tech sector to continue for the foreseeable future as large tech companies and startups continue to battle economic headwinds.
Seed and early-stage startups in particular may continue to conduct layoffs in an attempt to extend their cash runways in a difficult venture funding environment.
Tech layoffs noticeably increased at the start of 2022, ramped up in 2023, waned somewhat in 2024 and have continued in 2025.
What are signs that a company is planning layoffs?
Signs that may indicate a company is more likely to conduct layoffs include:
- A hiring, payroll or promotion freeze: Payroll is the most significant cost for most technology companies and often the first place company leaders will attempt to contain costs. Companies may do this by pausing hiring for all but the most mission-critical roles and by freezing promotions and pay raises for existing employees.
- Red flags in the company’s financial performance: A company that’s struggling with declining revenue or profit — or simply not growing at the rate anticipated — is more likely to conduct layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. Unfortunately, employees at many private startups are not privy to detailed financial information about their employers.
- Restructuring teams or departments: Companies may merge or consolidate teams in an attempt to streamline operations and cut costs. The redundancies that result from these restructuring moves often lead to job cuts. Companies may also increase their reliance on outsourced teams or contractors.
- Increased internal communication: Frequent communication to employees from management about the company’s financial challenges, workforce optimization, the need to reduce expenses, or the need for higher productivity might indicate that layoffs are under consideration. Venture-backed startups try to manage their cash runway — the amount of time they can continue operating at their current cash burn rate without fresh capital — and may also warn employees about the need to reduce cash burn.
- Unexpected changes in company policy: A company that suddenly mandates that employees who have worked remotely return to a physical office may be contemplating layoffs. Often, such policies are used as rationale to shed workers who don’t comply with the new mandates. Similarly, unexpected organizational assessments or audits of employee performance outside of regularly scheduled business reviews may be precursors to layoffs.
- Decreased workload or project cancellations: Other signs that a company is experiencing financial difficulties that could lead to layoffs include a noticeable reduction in workload for employees or major projects that are canceled or postponed.
- Other cost-cutting measures: Companies frequently pause or cancel perks and benefits including employee travel, catered meals or education or wellness stipends ahead of larger cost-cutting measures such as layoffs.
When will layoffs stop?
How many recent tech layoffs have there been?
Tech layoffs started surging in the 2022 market correction, with an estimated 93,000 U.S. tech workers laid off that year. That figure more than doubled in 2023, with around 200,000 U.S. tech employees laid off, according to our Tech Layoffs Tracker. Layoffs abated again in 2024, with around 95,000 reported tech layoffs.
Keep in mind, many companies don’t report detailed layoffs figures, and some companies continue hiring after cuts for positions deemed more beneficial to the business.
Is selling the company a good option to avoid layoffs?
What jobs are being cut in tech layoffs?
Tech layoffs have hit across departments at many companies.
Many layoffs from the large tech giants were software engineers. Startups tend to be more likely to retain engineers in favor of doing layoffs in their talent and recruiting, marketing and other departments.
Google cut roles in its sales, recruiting, product and engineering teams. Amazon layoffs included jobs in its AWS cloud unit, at its social video platform Twitch, and in its advertising department. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company’s recruiting department would be the first to see job cuts.
Where can I read recent tech layoff news?
Follow all of our tech layoffs news here and track which companies are cutting jobs with the layoffs tracker above.
Where can I see layoffs in the last 24 hours?
While not daily, this Crunchbase Tech Layoffs Tracker is updated weekly, if not more frequently, with the latest job cuts at U.S. tech employers.
Which companies are hiring for open tech jobs?
Many tech companies continue to hire for open roles, despite layoffs in the sector. Find out more about Crunchbase’s Actively Hiring filter and how you can find companies with multiple open roles.
You can find all of our job market-related news here.
