These companies have paused hiring or laid off employees

Impacted industries include tech, real estate, banking and cryptocurrency

As fears of a potential recession grow, FOX Business provides a roundup of the companies that have either laid employees off or halted or slowed hiring.  

Big Tech

On Thursday, Snap Inc. said it would "substantially slow" its rate of hiring to "effectively pause" its headcount growth after reporting its weakest-ever quarterly sales growth as a public company. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
SNAP SNAP INC. 12.11 +0.30 +2.54%

In a memo to employees earlier this month, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said Google would slow its hiring for the remainder of 2022. A Google spokesperson told FOX Business Wednesday that most new offers would be paused for two weeks to enable teams to prioritize their roles and hiring plans for the rest of the year. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
GOOGL ALPHABET INC. 171.49 +2.54 +1.50%

Meanwhile, Microsoft laid off a "small number" of employees as part of a "strategic alignment" and Apple is reportedly slowing its hiring and spending growth in 2023. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
MSFT MICROSOFT CORP. 430.98 +7.52 +1.78%
AAPL APPLE INC. 239.59 +2.26 +0.95%

In June, Reuters reported that Intel Corporation would freeze hiring for at least two weeks in its unit responsible for PC desktop and laptop chips.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
INTC INTEL CORP. 23.65 -0.40 -1.66%
META META PLATFORMS INC. 569.20 -4.34 -0.76%
TWTR NO DATA AVAILABLE - - -

In May, Meta Platforms said it would halt or slow down hiring for most mid-to-senior level positions, citing both global and domestic headwinds. Meta has also reportedly told managers to "move to exit" any employees who are "coasting" and "failing" the company. 

Twitter also paused most hiring in May ahead of the closing of Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the social media giant. In July, a Twitter spokesperson told FOX Business that it made the "difficult decision to restructure and reduce" its talent acquisition team to align with its revised business needs.

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Media and Fitness

On Wednesday, Vimeo said it would be slashing its workforce by 6%, citing "challenging market conditions and uncertainty" ahead. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
VMEO VIMEO 6.71 +0.02 +0.30%

In June, Spotify said it would slow down hiring by 25% amid "increasing uncertainty regarding the global economy." 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
SPOT SPOTIFY TECHNOLOGY SA 475.09 -1.65 -0.35%

In May, Netflix laid off around 150 employees who were mostly based in the U.S. The move came after it reported its first subscriber loss in over a decade. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
NFLX NETFLIX INC. 872.60 +7.01 +0.81%

A month later, the streaming behemoth let go of another 300 people across its U.S. and Canada, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
PTON PELOTON INTERACTIVE INC. 9.55 -0.79 -7.64%

In February, Peloton cut 2,800 jobs as part of a global restructuring. The fitness giant's instructors were spared from the move. 

Automakers

Ford Motor is reportedly planning to cut 8,000 jobs as the automaker looks to invest more money into electric vehicles. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
F FORD MOTOR CO. 11.13 +0.03 +0.27%

EV maker Rivian confirmed last week that it would be taking "major" cost-cutting measures and that it would be as "thoughtful as possible" in considering any workforce reductions. The announcement follows reports the maker of delivery vans for Amazon was planning to lay off about 5% of its workforce. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
RIVN RIVIAN AUTOMOTIVE INC. 11.87 -0.36 -2.94%
AMZN AMAZON.COM INC. 210.71 +2.82 +1.36%

In June, Tesla laid off 200 employees after closing its San Mateo, California office. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
TSLA TESLA INC. 357.09 +11.93 +3.46%

The move came after Elon Musk's company reportedly paused hiring. Musk previously said he has a "super bad feeling" about the economy and that he planned to cut 10% of Tesla's salaried staff. 

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Ride-hailing

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Lyft is shuttering its rental business, cutting 60 workers and reducing its global operations team by trimming regions from 13 to 9. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
UBER UBER TECHNOLOGIES INC. 71.62 +0.06 +0.08%
LYFT LYFT INC. 17.18 -0.43 -2.44%

Lyft's move comes after Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in May that the ride-hailing giant would "treat hiring as a privilege and be deliberate about when and where we add headcount."

Real Estate

Redfin cut 8% of its workforce in June after demand for homes in May fell nearly 20% short of the company's projections.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
RDFN REDFIN CORP. 9.61 -0.02 -0.21%

At the time, the real estate brokerage warned that the housing industry could face years of fewer home sales amid rising mortgage rates. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
COMP COMPASS INC. 7.09 -0.11 -1.53%

In addition, real estate broker Compass reportedly said it would cut 450 jobs "due to the clear signals of slowing economic growth" but noted that agents would not be impacted. It also said it would pause hiring expansion and mergers and acquisitions until the end of 2022.

Retail

A 7-Eleven spokesperson confirmed to FOX Business on Thursday that the convenience store chain made the difficult decision to cut approximately 880 jobs in its Irving, Texas and Enon, Ohio support centers and field support operations. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
SVNDY SEVEN & I HOLDINGS CO. LTD. 17.29 +0.37 +2.19%

The move comes just over a year after the company acquired competitor Speedway for $21 billion.

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VSCO VICTORIA'S SECRET & CO. 41.92 +3.08 +7.93%

Earlier this month, Victoria's Secret laid off 160 management executives from its home office in Ohio. At the time, the lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer said the layoffs constitute roughly 5% of its corporate population in Ohio and would save $40 million annually in salaries.

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GME GAMESTOP CORP. 27.27 -1.78 -6.13%

GameStop fired chief financial officer Michael Recupero and reportedly laid off an undisclosed number of employees.  

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Cryptocurrency exchanges

In June, crypto exchanges Coinbase and Gemini laid off employees after warning of a possible recession and "crypto winter". Coinbase laid off 18% of its global workforce, or approximately 1,100 employees, while Gemini laid off roughly 10%

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
COIN COINBASE GLOBAL INC. 296.20 -14.78 -4.75%

Other crypto firms that have reportedly laid off employees include Blockchain.com, BlockFi and Crypto.com.

Banks

In June, JPMorgan Chase laid off hundreds of employees in its mortgage business and reassigned hundreds more to different divisions, citing "cyclical changes in the mortgage market." 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
JPM JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. 250.69 +0.94 +0.38%
GS THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC. 610.29 +4.87 +0.80%

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs said this week that it has slowed hiring and is reducing certain professional fees amid a "challenging operating environment." The investment bank is also considering reinstating annual performance reviews for employees.