The wave of tech layoffs that began in late 2022 has continued into 2025. After two years of unprecedented job cuts in Silicon Valley and beyond, companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce are still trimming headcounts this year, though nowhere near the massive cuts seen in 2022–2023.
Over 28,500 tech employees have lost their jobs across 111 companies in the first part of 2025. Tech giants are using 2025 as an opportunity to restructure, cut costs, and refocus on new priorities (like artificial intelligence). Industry experts point to economic pressures – high inflation, rising interest rates, and reduced IT spending – as well as a growing reliance on AI-driven automation, as key drivers behind these layoffs.
Below, we will break down the major tech layoffs in the United States in 2025.
Tech Layoffs by Company in 2025
Below, we detail the layoff announcements and actions at several leading tech companies – Google, Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce – which have all undergone workforce reductions in 2025.
Google (Alphabet)
Google entered 2025 still in cost-cutting mode, though on a smaller scale than its drastic 12,000-person layoff in January 2023 (which was about 6% of its workforce). In February 2025, during the first quarter, Google quietly cut an undisclosed number of roles in its Cloud division, in a move that reportedly impacted only a few teams. These were relatively small cuts (especially compared to 2023), aimed at trimming areas outside Google’s core focus. (Notably, Google Cloud had already let go of around 100 people back in mid-2024 as well, signifying ongoing adjustments in that unit.)
In April 2025, Google laid off “hundreds” of employees from its Platforms and Devices (P&D) division, which houses the Android, Pixel, and Chrome teams. This round came after Google had offered a voluntary exit program to P&D employees in January. The P&D division had been formed by merging the Android/Chrome hardware teams under one group in 2022, and by early 2025, Google determined it needed to slim down this 20,000-person unit.
A Google spokesperson explained that since combining those teams, the company has focused on becoming “more nimble and operating more effectively,” which included some job reductions in addition to the voluntary exit program offered earlier. In other words, after reorganizing its hardware and OS groups, Google found overlaps and offered employees a buyout; when not enough people left voluntarily, they resorted to involuntary layoffs of a few hundred to streamline operations.
Google’s public reason for these cuts is organizational efficiency. The company said these layoffs would help Google “operate more effectively” after internal team mergers. Google is simultaneously reallocating resources toward priority areas like AI and data centers – a trend seen across Big Tech – even as it leans out older or lower-priority projects.
Blue Origin
Even the space sector felt the pinch. Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s space exploration company, carried out layoffs affecting over 1,000 employees in early 2025. This one raised some eyebrows since Blue Origin is privately held and heavily funded, but it appears they were consolidating teams after some projects (like parts of their lunar lander program) changed scope.
It underscores that tech layoffs aren’t confined to software and internet firms; aerospace tech is also tightening belts.
Meta (Facebook)
At Meta Platforms (parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), CEO Mark Zuckerberg signaled that 2023’s “Year of Efficiency” would extend into 2025. In January 2025 (Q1), Meta announced it would trim about 5% of its workforce, roughly 3,600 employees, focused primarily on what it called its “lowest performers”. This move was revealed via an internal memo and later confirmed by the company.
Meta had about 72,000 employees at the start of 2025, so a 5% cut is significant but nowhere near the scale of its prior layoffs (for context, Meta laid off ~11,000 employees in late 2022 and another ~10,000 in spring 2023). The month of Meta’s layoff announcement was January, and reports suggested the cuts would be executed by February 2025. Unlike a traditional mass layoff purely for cost savings, this round was framed as a performance-based culling.
Meta explicitly targeted employees who had underperformed relative to its internal rankings. A spokesperson said the goal was to “raise the bar” on talent and that Meta planned to hire new people to fill many of these roles over the year.
The company has been investing heavily in AI infrastructure and metaverse projects, and wants top talent in those areas.
HP (Hewlett-Packard Inc.)
The PC and printer maker has been undergoing a multi-year restructuring called “Future Ready,” announced in 2022. As part of that, HP cut on the order of a couple thousand jobs by early 2025 to reach its goal of 4,000–6,000 reductions by 2025.
Reports in February indicated HP would eliminate up to 2,000 jobs in 2025 to streamline operations and save $300 million. This continues their cost-cutting due to a slump in PC demand. (HP is an enterprise tech leader, albeit not as flashy as Google/Meta, but it’s still significant.)
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE)
On March 6, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced it would eliminate approximately 2,500 positions—around 5% of its global workforce—as part of a broader cost‑reduction program aimed at saving $350 million by fiscal year 2027. The initiative spans headcount reductions through layoffs and attrition over the next 12 to 18 months and includes cuts to non‑headcount expenses. CFO Marie Myers attributed the decision to weaker‑than‑expected enterprise customer spending, the impact of global tariffs, and broader economic uncertainty driven by high interest rates.
The announcement also included a disappointing second‑quarter revenue forecast of $7.2 to $7.6 billion, below analyst expectations of $7.93 billion, which triggered a 16.5% drop in HPE shares in aftermarket trading. The company will incur roughly $250 million in charges in fiscal 2025 and additional costs in 2026 as part of this program, with the balance of savings expected to materialize by 2027. Myers also highlighted server execution challenges, including inventory buildup from transitioning to NVIDIA’s Blackwell GPUs, as contributing factors to the restructuring.
Amazon
E-commerce and cloud giant Amazon largely completed its big downsizing earlier, having eliminated about 27,000 roles in 2022–2023 in response to slowing growth. In 2025, Amazon’s layoffs will be more limited. The most notable was an internal reorganization in late January 2025 that cut a “small number of roles” (reported as only dozens of employees) in Amazon’s Communications and Sustainability teams.
This was not a massive corporate-wide layoff, but rather a targeted management layer adjustment within specific departments. According to an internal memo from Amazon executive Drew Herdener, these cuts were made because some roles had become “too narrowly scoped” or had created “unnecessary layers” of management. Herdener noted that Amazon couldn’t simply solve this by moving people around (“flattening the structure or shifting workloads” didn’t fully fix the issue), so they decided to eliminate those roles to do the right thing for the business”. The reason given was to help Amazon “move faster” and be more efficient. In fact, a leaked memo phrased it as an effort to “move faster, increase ownership, strengthen our culture, and bring teams closer to customers.” – highlighting classic Amazon mantras about speed and customer focus.
Importantly, Herdener also claimed that the overall headcount of his department would remain the same after they rehire for some positions at lower levels. This implies Amazon was essentially removing some higher-level or specialized roles and would replace a portion of them with more junior or broad roles, aligning with a “leaner, flatter” org chart philosophy. It’s worth noting that Amazon’s 2025 cuts were far smaller than its big layoffs in the prior two years. By 2025, Amazon’s core business had stabilized somewhat, so we’re not seeing huge layoffs, but the company is still tweaking its workforce. The January 2025 mini-layoff was tied in part to Amazon’s push to return employees to the office. In late 2024, CEO Andy Jassy enforced a return-to-office policy (three days, then aiming for five days a week), which led to some resistance.
The restructuring in Communications and Sustainability could be seen as related to that shift, perhaps consolidating teams as office work resumes and eliminating roles that aren’t critical in the new setup.
Rec Room
On March 3, Seattle-based social gaming company Rec Room announced that it would reduce its workforce by 16%, affecting approximately 49 employees, as part of a bid to adjust to a “dramatically changed” gaming market. CEO Nick Fajt cited slower gaming market growth, elevated interest rates, and a more challenging fundraising environment as the primary drivers behind the decision, emphasizing the need for long-term sustainability. Affected staff were offered three months of severance pay, six months of healthcare premium coverage, and access to one-on-one career coaching to support their transition.
In a follow‑up blog post, Fajt outlined plans to reduce third‑party and infrastructure expenses, retrain employees for new disciplines, and flatten the organizational structure by cutting management layers to accelerate decision‑making. Rec Room also intends to invest heavily in its Rooms 2.0 initiative and enhance creator tools to expand user-generated content capabilities, while exploring new value propositions for its Rec Room Plus subscription to diversify revenue streams.
Microsoft
Microsoft kicked off 2023 with a major 10,000-employee layoff, but in 2024 and 2025, it too has shifted to selective restructuring. As of April 2025, reports indicate that Microsoft is preparing for another round of job cuts expected in May 2025 (Q2). While not officially announced by a press release, this plan has been widely reported (originating from Business Insider and other outlets) and even acknowledged indirectly by Microsoft watchers. The exact number of layoffs isn’t known yet, but insiders suggest it could affect hundreds of employees, mainly in middle management and non-engineering roles.
The driving idea behind Microsoft’s 2025 restructuring is to “boost the ratio of engineers to managers” in its teams. Put simply, Microsoft wants fewer layers of management and more people who write code or build products. Reports say the company is aiming for an engineer-to-manager ratio of 10:1 in some departments. That would be a significant increase in span of control, meaning each manager would oversee more people. For comparison, if some groups previously had a ratio closer to 5:1 or 8:1, moving to 10:1 implies flattening out the org chart. Along with potentially eliminating some managerial roles, Microsoft is also said to be looking at cutting certain “non-technical” roles and program manager positions that don’t directly contribute to engineering output.
Timing-wise, these cuts are anticipated in late Q2 2025 (around May). Microsoft tends to announce changes like this quietly unless it’s a very large layoff, so it might come via internal announcements or during an earnings report. Microsoft already made smaller layoffs in late 2024, such as cutting ~650 jobs in its Xbox gaming division in September, to trim underperforming projects. The 2025 plan appears to be a continuation of that strategy on a broader scale. It’s also tied to performance evaluations – one report mentioned Microsoft might weed out more people who were rated in the lower tier of its performance review system (for instance, employees labeled “Impact 80” or below).
So this is both a structural and performance-based purge, similar in spirit to what Meta did. The reasoning Microsoft has given (or at least what’s been reported) is to streamline operations and empower engineers. By cutting excess management, the company hopes to “unlock” productivity – an engineer can be more effective with less bureaucracy, and the company can be more agile. This also, of course, reduces costs, since managers and seasoned non-coders tend to draw high salaries. Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella and other tech CEOs have frequently talked about eliminating silos and speeding up innovation, especially as the company invests heavily in AI (through OpenAI partnership) and cloud services.
IBM
In 2025, IBM will focus on retraining and transitioning roles rather than explicit large layoffs. However, IBM’s CEO did mention in mid-2023 that they planned to pause hiring for certain back-office jobs that could be replaced by AI in the coming years, effectively signaling a slow reduction through attrition.
IBM’s story in 2025 is more about not replacing departing workers in some roles, which is another path to shrinking headcount without a formal layoff announcement.
Wayfair
On March 7, Retail Dive reported that Wayfair would lay off approximately 340 employees from its Technology division and close its Austin Technology Development Center to streamline operations and reduce costs. The retailer expects to incur between $33 million and $38 million in restructuring charges, largely for severance payments, benefits, and transition expenses, with cash outflows spread over the next 12 months. According to Wayfair’s SEC filing, these moves come after a five‑year effort to modernize its platform and migrate to a cloud‑based infrastructure, enabling the company to refocus technology investments on growth initiatives.
Wayfair will continue operating Technology Development Centers in Seattle, Boston, Mountain View, Toronto, and Bengaluru, consolidating its Austin workforce into these locations to foster closer collaboration and leverage shared resources. The company also highlighted plans to harness generative AI through tools like its Muse feature to improve personalization and efficiency, reflecting a broader push to integrate AI into its e‑commerce platform.
Salesforce
Salesforce, the cloud-based CRM software leader, made headlines in February 2025 with a fresh round of layoffs. The company eliminated over 1,000 jobs (roughly 1.5% of its workforce) around that time. This move came a year after Salesforce’s much larger purge in January 2023, when it cut about 10% of its employees (8,000 people) amid slowing growth. The 2025 layoffs are smaller by comparison, but they are noteworthy because they illustrate Salesforce’s strategy of rebalancing its talent toward new growth areas (like AI) while still keeping an eye on expenses.
The timing was early Q1 2025, on February 3, 2025, revealed Salesforce’s plans to cut those 1,000+ roles. Interestingly, Salesforce was simultaneously hiring new employees to work on AI products. The official storyline is that Salesforce is investing heavily in generative AI capabilities across its products (such as its Einstein GPT and new AI-driven offerings).
To do that, they need sales and engineering staff with AI expertise – and thus were hiring 2,300 people in those areas, according to some reports, even as they let go of 1,000 in more traditional roles. In other words, Salesforce is cutting with one hand and hiring with the other. A Salesforce spokesperson didn’t detail which departments were hit by the layoffs, but it’s likely they were in divisions deemed less critical or roles that overlapped with others. The reason given is a classic one these days: to free up resources for AI and efficiency.
Salesforce wanted to reduce costs in certain legacy parts of the business while ramping up its go-to-market for new AI features. This aligns with CEO Marc Benioff’s statements that Salesforce is embracing an “AI + Data + CRM” future. In fact, in late 2024, Benioff bragged about Agentforce, Salesforce’s AI-powered virtual agent platform, and the company closed over 1,000 deals for that product. That suggests Salesforce sees a huge opportunity (and needs lots of new talent) in selling AI enhancements to its customers. So, letting go of 1,000 folks – potentially in roles like support, recruiting, or in segments of the business that aren’t growing – can both save money and allow reallocation of headcount to AI sales and R&D. It’s also worth noting that Salesforce has been under pressure to improve profit margins. Activist investors got involved in 2022–2023, pushing Benioff to cut costs. The big 2023 layoff and other cost measures (like reducing real estate footprint) were a response to that.
By 2025, Salesforce’s revenue was still growing but not at the hyper-fast rates of the past, so they continue to be cost-conscious. Cutting 1,000 jobs will save some money, but Salesforce made a point to frame it not just as belt-tightening but as “restructuring to better serve our customers in the new AI era.”
Cisco Systems
Cisco (the networking hardware giant) did not announce a major new layoff in 2025, but it’s been quietly reducing staff through 2023–24 as it pivots to software and subscriptions. In 2023, Cisco had already cut about 4,000 jobs as part of a restructuring.
By 2025, Cisco instead spoke of reallocating investment into AI and talent development. (No big headline layoffs from them so far this year, which perhaps is a relief to employees after prior cuts.)
LiveRamp
On March 7, Adweek reported that adtech firm LiveRamp will cut 65 employees—approximately 5% of its full‑time workforce—in a broader effort to simplify operations and drive profitability through strategic reprioritization. LiveRamp described the restructuring in its SEC filing as a move to tighten its focus and enhance efficiency across its core business processes.
LiveRamp estimates it will incur about $6.5 million in restructuring and related charges, primarily tied to severance and benefits, most of which will be recorded in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. Adweek noted that the cuts are intended to improve the company’s bottom line by targeting non‑customer‑facing roles while preserving core engineering and product teams.
Apple
Notably, Apple has largely avoided major layoffs so far. Alone among Big Tech, Apple did not do sweeping cuts in 2022 or 2023. Instead, it drastically slowed hiring and trimmed costs. It did quietly eliminate about 100 roles in its corporate retail division (the digital services team) in 2023, and in April 2023, it cut a small number of jobs on its corporate recruiting team as well. In 2025, Apple has not announced any significant layoffs.
This has been a point of pride for Apple’s management, which often contrasts Apple’s discipline with the over-expansion of others. Still, Apple’s measured approach (using attrition and tiny team shake-ups) is another facet of the industry’s response to the economic climate.
HelloFresh
On March 17, Grocery Dive reported that HelloFresh will lay off 273 workers at its Grand Prairie, Texas, distribution center effective May 13, as the company consolidates its operations to its larger Irving facility. According to a WARN notice, HelloFresh aims to optimize its North American footprint by centralizing fulfillment at its most technologically advanced center, following similar staffing adjustments in Arizona earlier this year. The company has stated that impacted employees will be offered financial support packages and relocation assistance where eligibility criteria are met.
The layoffs come days after HelloFresh reported its 2024 financial results, which included just 0.9% revenue growth and a 3% decline in fourth‑quarter revenues, and projected a 3–8% revenue contraction for fiscal 2025 amid market normalization and inflationary pressures. This Grand Prairie closure marks HelloFresh’s third major consolidation of its distribution network in North America over the past year, underscoring its focus on operational discipline and cost management to drive profitability.
GrubHub (Q1 2025)
GrubHub announced on February 28, 2025, that it would cut approximately 500 jobs—over 20% of its roughly 2,220‑strong workforce—following its sale by Just Eat Takeaway to Wonder for $650 million.
CEO Howard Migdal explained that the reductions were essential to align GrubHub’s organizational structure with Wonder’s strategic priorities, streamline management layers, and reallocate resources toward core delivery operations and innovation efforts. Impacted employees were offered severance packages, outplacement services, and extended healthcare coverage to support their transition, reflecting the company’s focus on mitigating the human impact of the cuts.
Autodesk
On February 27, 2025, design‑software leader Autodesk announced it would reduce its global headcount by about 9%, affecting roughly 1,350 employees, as part of a strategic overhaul of its go‑to‑market (GTM) organization. In an internal memo, CEO Andrew Anagnost noted that the move would better align staffing with evolving customer needs, shifting from traditional annual subscription billing to more self‑service and direct‑billing models, while freeing up investment for cloud and artificial‑intelligence initiatives.
Autodesk also committed to supporting affected colleagues with severance pay, career coaching, and job‑placement assistance, underscoring its emphasis on treating employees with care during the restructuring.
Conclusion
The tech industry in 2025 continues to experience aftershocks from the massive realignments that began in 2022. While the pace of layoffs has slowed, job cuts remain a recurring theme across a broad range of companies, from household names like Google and Meta to smaller players like Rec Room and LiveRamp. What’s consistent across many of these actions is the push to streamline operations, reduce management layers, and reallocate resources toward growth areas like AI and cloud infrastructure.
For some companies, like Apple, a more cautious hiring strategy has helped avoid the need for major layoffs. Others, like Salesforce and Microsoft, are actively reducing headcount in one area while expanding in another, suggesting a rebalancing rather than broad cost-cutting. Overall, 2025 layoffs reflect a shift in how tech firms are managing both economic uncertainty and changing technological priorities.
As AI, automation, and platform consolidation reshape the sector, layoffs—whether large-scale or targeted—are likely to remain part of how companies adjust to new business realities.
