Massive layoffs at Microsoft, Flipkart, Swiggy

New Delhi: The tech industry worldwide has faced significant challenges in recent years, including a difficult economy, the Covid-19 pandemic, and business errors. These challenges have resulted in job cuts that increased in 2023 and appear to be accelerating in 2024. Big tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Flipkart and Amazon, besides food aggregator Swiggy, joined the bandwagon of layoffs in 2024 with thousands of employees out of work.

More than 240,000 jobs were lost in 2023, 50% higher than the previous year. Despite previous slowdowns in layoffs in the tech sector, cuts appear to be increasing again since 2023. Tech companies are shifting from growth to efficiency, cutting their workforces in the face of difficult market conditions. Microsoft is laying off approximately 1,900 employees from Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week.

Many roles being cut are from Activision Blizzard, but some Xbox and ZeniMax employees will also be affected. The layoffs will amount to around 8% of the total Microsoft Gaming division, which has about 22,000 employees in total. An internal memo from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, obtained by The Verge, confirms the layoffs. In the memo, Spencer stated that Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard's leadership are working together to align on a strategy and execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the company's growing business.

Blizzard president Mike Ybarra and Blizzard's chief design officer, Allen Adham, will be leaving the company alongside the layoffs. Microsoft plans to name a new Blizzard president next week. Blizzard's previously announced survival game has been cancelled as part of these changes. Microsoft will shift some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development.

Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce giant, will lay off 1,000 employees as part of its annual performance review exercise, representing about 5% of its workforce, according to reports. The company has around 22,000 employees on its payroll. This reduction in the workforce is a usual process, indicate the reports.

Swiggy, a food tech giant preparing to go public, is reportedly planning to lay off 400 employees in a restructuring move. This will be the second round of layoffs for the company, which had previously let go of 380 employees in January 2023. The latest round of layoffs is expected to affect approximately 7% of Swiggy's workforce, which currently stands at around 6,000 employees.

eBay will cut around 1,000 jobs, or 9% of its workforce, due to expenses growing faster than business. eBay CEO Jamie Iannone said eBay will streamline teams and improve the end-to-end experience for customers globally. eBay will also reduce some "alternative workforce" contracts.

Managers will notify employees whose roles have been eliminated. eBay staff will work from home on Wednesday to provide privacy for these conversations. Last February, eBay laid off 500 employees, representing 4% of its total workforce.