Continuing the trend from 2022, Big Tech has begun 2023 by downsizing. Google on Friday and Spotify on Monday announced plans to lay off about 12,000 and 600 employees, respectively, totaling roughly 6 percent of each company's workforce. Last week, Microsoft announced 10,000 layoffs, a reduction of less than 5 percent. These companies join a procession of tech companies shedding workers: Facebook's parent company, Meta, shed 13 percent of its staff—roughly 11,000 employees—last fall, and Amazon is in the midst of terminating more than 18,000 positions.
These woes transcend layoffs: Tech stock prices have withered as well. In the 12 months preceding Tuesday morning, Google parent Alphabet's stock is down 25 percent, Amazon's 31 percent, Meta's 53 percent, and Microsoft's 16 percent. What's more, Meta's (Facebook's parent company) quarterly revenues are shrinking, as are Google's, YouTube's, and Microsoft's. TikTok is on pace to eclipse the aging Facebook's user count in 2026.
