More than 236 thousand tech workers in the world have lost their jobs since the beginning of 2023, according to a study by Layoffs.fyi.
The data indicate that the number of layoffs in the tech sector in 2023 will significantly exceed the figure for the previous year. Thus, since the beginning of this year, 1,019 thousand tech companies have laid off 236,495 thousand people. Last year, 1,024 thousand companies laid off 154.34 thousand employees, according to Layoffs.fyi.
In particular, last week, telecommunications equipment manufacturer Cisco Systems Inc. announced the dismissal of 350 employees, and in early September, streaming company Roku Inc. announced a 10% reduction in staff.
Among the tech companies that announced layoffs this year are the American Amazon.com Inc., Electronic Arts, Palantir Technologies, Twilio Inc., DocuSign Inc., Salesforce Inc., Zoom Video Communications, eBay, Dell Technologies, PayPal Holdings, International Business Machines, Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. as well as German SAP and Swedish Spotify Technology.
More than 216,000 workers in the technology industry worldwide have lost their jobs since the beginning of 2023, a study by Layoffs.fyi shows.
At the same time, the number of people laid off has increased more than eightfold since mid-January, MarketWatch notes.
The data suggest that the number of layoffs in the tech sector at the end of 2023 will be significantly higher than last year. For example, since the beginning of this year, 837 tech companies have laid off 216,328,000 people. Last year, 1,024,000 companies laid off 154,34,000 employees, according to Layoffs.fyi.
That included Niantic Inc. last week, creator of the popular game Pokemon Go, announcing 230 layoffs, and in late June, trading platform Robinhood Markets announced 150 job cuts.
Tech companies announcing layoffs this year include U.S. Amazon.com Inc., Electronic Arts, Roku Inc., Palantir Technologies, Twilio Inc., DocuSign Inc., Salesforce Inc., Zoom Video Communications, eBay, Dell Technologies, PayPal Holdings, International Business Machines, Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. as well as Germany’s SAP and Sweden’s Spotify Technology.
Asia-Pacific stock indexes are mostly rising on Friday, the exception is the South Korean indicator.
Traders are assessing the statistical data and the results of the Bank of Japan meeting.
The Japanese Central Bank left unchanged the main parameters of the monetary policy (MP) on the results of the two-day meeting that ended on Friday, which became the first for the new head of the Central Bank Kazuo Ueda.
The short-term interest rate on commercial bank deposits at the Central Bank remained at minus 0.1% per annum, the target yield on ten-year government bonds – about zero, according to a statement from the Japanese Central Bank.
Bank of Japan also retained the range within which the yield of ten-year government bonds may fluctuate – plus/minus 0.5%.
At the same time, the phrase about the Central Bank’s intention to keep the rate at the current level or lower was missing from the text of the statement on the results of the meeting. This is a phrase the Bank of Japan has been repeating since October 2019.
At the same time, the central bank reiterated that it is ready to keep its stimulative policy until inflation stabilizes at the 2% target level.
In addition, the Bank of Japan announced its intention to revise its monetary policy, the results of which will be published in 12-18 months.
Statistics released Friday showed a 13th straight month of improvement in the country’s retail sales, as well as an increase in industrial production and an unexpected jump in unemployment.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index gained 1% in trading. Toyota Motor gained 1.3 percent, SoftBank Group gained 2.3 percent and Denso Corp. – Denso Corp. by 4.3%, Daikin Industries by 2.8% and Ana Holdings by 2.2%.
China’s Shanghai Composite stock index added 0.7 percent in trading Friday, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.6 percent.
The leaders of the growth both in mainland China and Hong Kong are shares of technology companies, rising due to strong quarterly reports of U.S. IT-giants.
Kunlun Tech soared almost 20% in trading in Shenzhen. Shares of BlueFocus Intelligent gained 17%, Dawning Information Industry gained 5.2%, and 360 Security Technology gained 4.8%.
In Hong Kong, shares of BYD Electronic (+6.7%), Haier Smart Home (+5.9%), Semiconductor Manufacturing International (+2%), NetEase Inc. (SPB: NTES) (+3.2%) gained.
The value of China Tourism Duty Free Corp. securities fell 0.15% during trading. The company’s net income fell 10% in the first quarter as its expenses grew faster than revenue.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is adding 0.24% and South Korea’s KOSPI is losing 0.02%.
South Korean industrial production fell 7.6% in March compared to the same month last year. In February the index decreased by 8%.
More than 139,000 technology workers around the world have lost their jobs since the beginning of 2023, according to data compiled by Layoffs.fyi.
The figure has more than tripled since mid-January.
The data suggest that the number of tech-sector layoffs at the end of this year will far exceed the figure for 2022. So, since the beginning of the year, 498 tech companies have cut 139,033 thousand people. Last year, 1,024,000 companies laid off 154,34,000 employees, Layoffs.fyi reports.
Including this week, Meta Platforms Inc. (said it intends to lay off another 10,000 people as part of a cost-cutting program. The company has already cut more than 11,000 employees in November.
Tech companies that have announced layoffs this year include U.S. Palantir Technologies, Twilio Inc., DocuSign Inc., Salesforce Inc., Zoom Video Communications, eBay, Dell Technologies, PayPal Holdings, International Business Machines, Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. as well as Germany’s SAP and Sweden’s Spotify Technology.
Ukrainian IT companies attracted about $1 billion in venture capital investments in 2022, mainly these were investments by foreign companies, while the activity of most Ukrainian companies from other sectors that invested in IT development before the war has dropped to zero, said Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation on IT Development Alexander Boryakov.
“I will not give a clear figure. I can guess up to $1 billion last year (the number of venture capital investments in IT) even in conditions of a full-scale war,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, since the beginning of the war, the interest of venture capitalists in the sector has declined sharply, but activity resumed in the summer. In particular, Blue&Yellow Heritage Fund (the first venture fund of the American company Venture Capital to work with Ukrainian IT-projects – IFU) was founded for $50 million. Also several foreign funds ready to invest over $10 million each are known, added the deputy minister.
“I do not see people in Ukraine today who would allocate funds for this. Just imagine, before the war, the same DTEK, Metinvest had groups that were engaged in innovations and investments. However, I don’t think that against the background of how many facilities suffered because of the full-scale Russian invasion, these groups have funding. Kyivstar, Vodafone, Pinchuk’s group had similar projects. Now the majority of the projects are winding down”, – Mr. Boryakov said.
He added that about $15 million have been attracted as grants and donations. Approximately $0.5 million in grant support has been provided by partners from USAID CEP, WNISEF, GIST, EIT Raw materials and YEP. About $40 million from the beginning of full-scale war is estimated by Google, grants were also provided by Microsoft and Amazon.
The top three areas of interest to investors, according to Boryakov, include web3, mil-tech, and artificial intelligence.
The deputy minister did not make predictions about possible investments that could be allocated to the IT-sphere in Ukraine in 2023, noting that “much will depend on the situation with military action.”
“However, with the initiative that we launch (mil-tech startups), if done right, it is possible to attract even more funds (than in 2022),” he said.
The possibility of relocation until the end of 2022 is still considered by 37% of IT companies, these are the results of a study conducted by the IT Ukraine association together with the law firm Sayenko Kharenko “Relocation. New IT landscape of Ukraine”.
According to them, 23% of companies plan to combine relocation abroad and within Ukraine, and 14% of respondents are considering partial or full relocation abroad.
It is indicated that the relocation is largely considered by IT companies as a forced step for the period of the war, or at least its active phase.
The study notes that 55% of the IT companies surveyed have not yet relocated: 25% have switched to remote work, and 30% work remotely and partly in the office.
Among IT companies that carried out relocation, relocation within Ukraine prevails (45%). 42% of companies partially relocated abroad, of which only 5% of companies closed part of their offices in Ukraine.
At the same time, none of the surveyed IT companies has carried out a complete relocation abroad.
In addition, none of the surveyed IT companies intends to completely shut down their business in Ukraine.
According to IT Ukraine, the study was conducted among the members of the association, which currently number more than 120 companies.
