A couple weeks ago, my colleague Kylie Robison wrote in this newsletter about the flurry of tech layoffs that marred the start of this year. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told her more may be coming and, well, it was. Here’s a list of the job cuts that have already been revealed just in the first two days of this week (so, not even counting Wayfair’s laying off of 1,650 employees, which took place last Friday):
—EBay announced yesterday that it would say farewell to around 1,000 people, or 9% of its workforce. It blamed a “challenging” economic environment and said the aim was to “align and consolidate certain teams to improve the end-to-end experience, and better meet the needs of our customers around the world.” Investors cheered, sending shares up 4%.
—Kylie broke the news yesterday that Brex was laying off 282 people, or 20% of its workforce. The fintech firm’s CEO, Pedro Franceschi, told workers it was trying to become “a high-velocity company,” adding the now-familiar refrain that “we grew our org too quickly.”
—SAP said yesterday that around 8,000 roles (7% of its workforce) would be “restructured” in a new tilt towards AI, though it’s not yet clear how many of these people will sign up for buyouts and how many will be re-skilled and internally redistributed (this is a German company we’re talking about, so negotiations loom). The business software giant said it “expects to exit 2024 at a headcount similar to current levels.” Shares rose 7% to a record high on the news.
—Vroom announced Monday that it was axing its entire e-commerce business and its used-vehicle dealership business, to focus on its automotive finance operation and AI-powered services for car retailers. That means the loss of around 800 workers, or 90% of the workforce. This one is an attempt to stave off bankruptcy; the whole online used-vehicle business is in trouble.
—League of Legends publisher Riot Games is shedding 530 people, or 11% of the workforce. The Tencent unit’s CEO, Dylan Jadeja, told staffers Monday that Riot was trying to “create focus and move us toward a more sustainable future.” The teams running the Legends of Runeterra title and the Forge division, which publishes indie games, will be hit particularly hard. Again, the whole gaming sector is seeing big cuts these days.
—Alphabet, which has already been cutting like crazy this month, is laying off dozens of workers at its X Lab “moonshot” division. Bloomberg reported Monday that X Lab CEO Astro Teller wrote a memo explaining that the unit was “expanding our approach to focus on spinning out more projects as independent companies funded through market-based capital.”
—TikTok has cut around 60 roles, as NPR first reported Monday. The sales and advertising divisions are bearing the brunt of the cuts, though CNBC reported yesterday that the company said those affected “may apply to any open internal roles, of which there are over 120 similar roles posted currently.”
—Seedrs is pulling out of Spain and Sweden, with around 15 people (or 15% of its European workforce) losing their jobs, Sifted reported yesterday. The Republic-owned crowdfunding platform blamed “challenging market conditions” for the startup fundraising sector over the last 18 months.
Analysts reckon the start of 2023 was worse, but that’s cold comfort to those getting hit now. Sincere commiserations to all affected. More news below.
David Meyer
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NEWSWORTHY
Electric dreams. Tesla is planning to start producing a mass-market electric car in 2025, Reuters reports. It’s code-named “Redwood” and apparently it’s a “compact crossover,” though it’s unclear if it’s the $25,000 Tesla that CEO Elon Musk has been promising since 2020. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Apple intends to finally launch its EV in 2028—two years later than previously planned, and it’s reportedly no longer going to be fully autonomous.
Spotify’s EU delight. Spotify has shown off the changes it hopes to soon make to its app in the EU, where the incoming Digital Markets Act is about to (theoretically) force Apple to stop demanding a 30% cut of in-app purchases. As The Verge notes, Spotify wants to give Europeans options from which it’s been shying away, such as upgrading their subscriptions or buying audiobooks with a simple click.
Chrome gets AI. Google’s Chrome browser is getting its first big AI features. As TechCrunch explains, users (consumers, not enterprise users for now) need to turn on “Experimental AI” in their settings to enjoy them. A Tab Organizer feature uses AI to, well, organize tabs into groups, while the Chrome theme store will now generate a theme for you using the technology. More importantly, a “help me write” feature will arrive next month, generating first drafts for reviews, emails, and so on.
ON THIS DAY IN TECH HISTORY
The Mac emerges. The first Apple Macintosh went on sale 40 years ago today—two days after that legendary, Ridley Scott-directed Super Bowl ad aired. Its biggest innovation was the shift from command-line interfaces to the graphical user interface and mouse. Here’s a video from later in January 1984, when a charismatic young Steve Jobs and his team introduced the “insanely great” new computer to the Boston Computer Society. It cost $2,495 at launch, which, taking account of inflation, would be over $7,500 in today’s money.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Netflix crushes expectations, stock surges 8%, says streaming can be ‘a very healthy business’ in earnings victory lap, by Paolo Confino
WWE’s ‘Raw’ jumps to Netflix in $5 billion deal, ending a 30-plus-year run on linear TV, by Chris Morris
Digital ‘watermarks’ will not save us from deepfakes and AI-generated fraud, by Jeremy Kahn
Elon Musk responded to accusations that something ‘shady’ helped MrBeast earn $263,000 on X, but creators are still puzzled, by Alexandra Sternlicht
Elon Musk promised Tesla’s very own ‘ChatGPT moment’ with full self-drive technology—now owners may be weeks away from finding out if he can finally deliver, by Christiaan Hetzner
BEFORE YOU GO
Printer cartridge “viruses.” Why does HP block printers when people put third-party ink in them—a practice that’s leading to lawsuits? CEO Enrique Lores claimed last week that this was to thwart virus-laden ink cartridges, but this notion has sent security experts’ eyebrows into the stratosphere.
As Ars Technica reports, Lores’s assertion is based on a theoretical possibility noted in HP-sponsored research, but even the company says there’s no evidence of such a thing ever happening in reality. As one commentator noted: “His claim is wildly implausible even in a lab setting, let alone in the wild, and let alone at any scale that impacts businesses or individuals rather than selected political actors.”
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