These companies have paused hiring or laid off employees

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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

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. 

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.

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

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. 

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

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.

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%. 

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." 

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.