U.S., Canadian companies kick off 2024 with layoffs

An Amazon same-day delivery fulfilment shipping centre in Woodland Park, N.J., is shown on Dec. 18, 2023. (Ted Shaffrey / AP Photo)

Companies in the United States and Canada have kicked off 2024 with thousands of job cuts across sectors, signalling that the spate of layoffs seen in 2023 could persist as they scramble to rein in costs.

While job cut announcements in the United States more than doubled month-on-month to 82,307 in January, they were down 20 per cent from a year earlier, according to a report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas earlier in February.

The technology sector, which accounted for the highest number of layoffs in 2023, has seen 34,000 job cuts in 141 firms so far this year, according to tracking website Layoffs.fyi.

Here is a snapshot of job cuts announced so far in 2024:

Technology

* Amazon's job cuts include less than five per cent of employees at Buy with Prime unit, five per cent at audiobook and podcast division Audible, several hundred in streaming and studio operations, 35 per cent at streaming unit Twitch and a few hundred at health-care units One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy.

* Layoffs at Alphabet include dozens at division for developing new technology X Lab, hundreds in advertising sales team, hundreds across teams, including the hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit, and a majority in the augmented reality team.

* Microsoft is cutting around 1,900 jobs at gaming divisions Activision Blizzard and Xbox.

* IBM plans to lay off some employees in 2024, but will hire more for AI-centred roles.

* E-commerce firm eBay plans to cut about 1,000 roles, or around nine per cent of its workforce.

* Videogame software provider Unity Software to cut about 25 per cent of workforce, or 1,800 jobs.

* DocuSign plans to reduce workforce by about six per cent, or 400 employees, with a majority in its sales and marketing organizations.

* Snap plans to cut around 528 jobs, or 10 per cent of its global workforce.

* Salesforce is laying off about 700 employees, or roughly one per cent of its global workforce.

* Network giant Cisco is planning to restructure its business, which will include laying off thousands of employees.

* Autonomous vehicle technology company Aurora Innovation lays off three per cent of its workforce.

* Canada's BlackBerry plans more layoffs, in addition to about 200 job cuts in the prior quarter.

* Satellite radio company SiriusXM plans to reduce workforce by about three per cent, or about 160 roles.

* Bumble is set to eliminate 350 jobs, or about 30 per cent of its workforce.

Media

* Walt Disney's Pixar Animation Studios is set to cut jobs as the studio has completed production on some shows.

* Comcast-owned British media group Sky plans to cut about 1,000 jobs across its businesses this year.

* The Los Angeles Times plans to lay off 94 journalists.

* Paramount Global is planning to conduct an unspecified number of layoffs.

* Business Insider plans to lay off around eight per cent of its staff.

* Bell Canada BCE. plans to slash 4,800 jobs.

Financial services 

* PayPal Holdings is planning to cut about 2,500 jobs, or nine per cent of its global workforce this year.

* Payments firm Block Inc has started to cut unspecified jobs.

* Citigroup is planning to reduce its headcount by 20,000 people over the next two years.

* Investment banking giant Morgan Stanley is planning to cut hundreds of jobs in its wealth management unit, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the cuts will affect less than one per cent of the division's employees.

* Exchange operator Nasdaq plans to slash hundreds of jobs as it integrates fintech firm Adenza into its business.

* Asset manager BlackRock is set to cut about three per cent of its workforce, but expects larger headcount by end-2024.

Consumer and retail 

* Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder plans to cut three per cent to five per cent of its global workforce.

* Wayfair plans to lay off 1,650 employees, or about 13 per cent of its workforce.

* U.S. department store chain Macy's is cutting 2,350 jobs, closing five stores.

* Levi Strauss & Co is planning to slash 10 to 15 per cent of global corporate jobs.

* Hershey's restructuring plan will affect less than five per cent of its workforce.

* Nike will cut about two per cent of its total workforce, or more than 1,600 jobs, as the sportswear giant looks to cut costs after flagging weaker profits this year.

Health

* Novavax is cutting about 12 per cent of its workforce.

Manufacturing

* Defense contractor Lockheed Martin is planning to cut one per cent of its jobs.

* United Parcel Service plans to cut 12,000 jobs to cut costs.

Natural resources 

* U.S. miner Piedmont Lithium cuts 27 per cent of workforce in its cost-cutting plan.

 (Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala, Harshita Mary Varghese, Samrhitha Arunasalam, Arsheeya Bajwa, Priyanka.G, Jaspreet Singh, Mehnaz Yasmin and Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Arpan Varghese, Anil D'Silva, Shinjini Ganguli and Maju Samuel)