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Received today β€” 14 August 2025

The list of major companies laying off staff this year includes Oracle, Nextdoor, Intel, Scale AI, and more

Peloton logo outside its New York City studios while woman walks by holding umbrella
Peloton said in August that it is making further cuts to its head count this year.

John Smith/VIEWpress

  • Companies such as Peloton, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, BlackRock, and UPS have trimmed staff this year.
  • In some cases, artificial intelligence is reshaping workforces.
  • See the list of companies letting workers go in 2025.

The list of companies laying off employees this year is growing.

Layoffs and other workforce reductions have continued in 2025, following two years of significant job cuts in tech, media, finance, manufacturing, retail, and energy.

While the reasons for slimming staff vary, the cost-cutting measures are coming amid technological change. A World Economic Forum survey found that some 41% of companies worldwide expect to reduce their workforces over the next five years because of the rise of artificial intelligence.

Companies such as Oracle, CNN, Dropbox, and Block have previously announced job cuts related to AI. Though Amazon has not announced job cuts this year, CEO Andy Jassy told employees in June that the company will need "fewer people doing some of the jobsΒ that are being done today" in the coming years as it expands its use of generative AI and agents.

Meanwhile, tech jobs in big data, fintech, and AI are expected to double by 2030, according to the WEF.

Here are the companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2025 so far, in alphabetical order.

Adidas plans to cut up to 500 jobs in Germany.
Adidas shoes are seen in the store in Hoofddorp, Netherlands.
Despite a strong year, Adidas is planning job cuts.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Adidas said in January that it would reduce the size of its workforce at its headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany, affecting up to 500 jobs, CNBC reported.

If fully executed, it amounts to a reduction of nearly 9% at the company headquarters, which employs about 5,800 employees, according to the Adidas website.

The news came shortly after the company announced it had outperformed its profit expectations at the end of 2024, touting "better-than-expected" results in the fourth quarter.

An Adidas spokesperson said the company had grown "too complex because of our current operating model."

"To set adidas up for long-term success, we are now starting to look at how we align our operating model with the reality of how we work. This may have an impact on the organizational structure and number of roles based at our HQ in Herzogenaurach."

The company said it is not a cost-cutting measure and could not confirm concrete numbers.

Ally is cutting less than 5% of workers.
Hands typing on a laptop with the Ally website on its screen.

Ally Bank/Facebook

The digital-financial-services company Ally is laying off roughly 500 of its 11,000 employees, a spokesperson confirmed to BI.

"As we continue to right-size our company, we made the difficult decision to selectively reduce our workforce in some areas, while continuing to hire in our other areas of our business," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said the company was offering severance, outplacement support, and the opportunity to apply for openings at Ally.

Ally made a similar level of cuts in October 2023, the Charlotte Observer reported.

Automattic, Tumblr's parent, cuts 16% of staff
Logo of Tumblr.

Thiago Prudencio/SOPA/LightRocket/Getty Images

Automattic, the parent company of Tumblr and WordPress, said in April it is cutting 16% of its staff globally. The company's website said it has nearly 1,500 employees.

Automattic's CEO, Matt Mullenweg, said in a note to employees posted online that the company has reached an "important crossroads."

"While our revenue continues to grow, Automattic operates in a highly competitive market, and technology is evolving at unprecedented levels," the note read.

The company is restructuring to improve its "productivity, profitability, and capacity to invest," it added.

The company said it was offering severance and job placement resources to affected employees.

BlackRock is cutting 1% of its workforce.
A black-and-white photo of the BlackRock logo on a building, viewed from below.

Eric Thayer/Reuters

BlackRock told employees it was planning to cut about 200 people of its 21,000-strong workforce, Bloomberg reported in January.

The reductions were more than offset by some 3,750 workers who were added last year and another 2,000 expected to be added in 2025.

BlackRock's president, Rob Kapito, and its chief operating officer, Rob Goldstein, said the cuts would help realign the firm's resources with its strategy, Bloomberg reported.

Block to lay off nearly 1,000 workers
Smartphone with Square logo is seen in front of displayed Afterpay logo

REUTERS/Dado Ruvi

Jack Dorsey's fintech company, Block, is laying off nearly 1,000 employees, according to TechCrunch and The Guardian, in its second major workforce reduction in just over a year.

The company, which operates Square, Afterpay, CashApp, and Tidal, is transitioning nearly 200 managers into non-management roles and closing almost 800 open positions, according to an email obtained by TechCrunch.

Dorsey, who co-founded Block in 2009 after previously leading Twitter, announced the layoffs in March in an internal email titled "smaller block."

The restructuring is part of a broader effort to streamline operations, though Block maintains the changes are not driven by financial targets or AI replacements.

Bloomberg is making cuts in an overhaul of its newsroom
Bloomberg LP NYC office exterior

Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Bloomberg is cutting some editorial staff as the company reorganizes its newsroom, according to a memo viewed by BI. The larger strategy aims to have a larger headcount by the end of this year, however.

The newsroom currently employs around 2,700 people, and the changes will merge some smaller teams into larger units, the memo said.

Blue Origin is laying off one-tenth of its workforce
Blue Origin

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Jeff Bezos's rocket company, Blue Origin, is laying off about 10% of its workforce, a move that could affect more than 1,000 employees.

In a memo sent to staff in February and obtained by Business Insider, David Limp, the CEO of Blue Origin, said the company's priority going forward was "to scale our manufacturing output and launch cadence with speed, decisiveness and efficiency for our customers."

Limp specifically identified roles in engineering, research and development, and management as targets.

"We grew and hired incredibly fast in the last few years, and with that growth came more bureaucracy and less focus than we needed," Limp wrote. "It also became clear that the makeup of our organization must change to ensure our roles are best aligned with executing these priorities."

The news comes after January's debut launch of the company's partially reusable rocket β€” New Glenn.

Boeing cut 400 roles from its moon rocket program
Boeing Employees Renton Washington

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Boeing announced on February 8 that it plans to cut 400 roles from its moon rocket program amid delays and rising costs related to NASA's Artemis moon exploration missions.

Artemis 2, a crewed flight to orbit the moon on Boeing's space launch system, has been rescheduled from late 2024 to September 2025. Artemis 3, intended to be the first astronaut moon landing in the program, was delayed from late 2025 and is now planned for September 2026.

"To align with revisions to the Artemis program and cost expectations, we informed our Space Launch Systems team of the potential for approximately 400 fewer positions by April 2025," a Boeing spokesperson told Business Insider. "We are working with our customer and seeking opportunities to redeploy employees across our company to minimize job losses and retain our talented teammates."

The company will issue 60-day notices of involuntary layoff to impacted employees "in coming weeks," the spokesperson said.

Boeing cut 10% of its workforce last year.

BP slashed 7,700 staff and contractor positions worldwide
A BP logo on a gas station sign.

John Keeble/Getty Images

BP told Business Insider in January that it planned to cut 4,700 staff and 3,000 contractors, amounting to about 5% of its global workforce.

The cuts were part of a program to "simplify and focus" BP that began last year.

"We are strengthening our competitiveness and building in resilience as we lower our costs, drive performance improvement and play to our distinctive capabilities," the company said.

Bridgewater cut about 90 staff
An office in a forested area with a glass bridge connecting buildings.
Outside Bridgewater Associates' Westport, Connecticut headquarters.

Bridgewater Associates

Bridgewater Associates cut 7% of its staff in January in an effort to stay lean, a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

The layoffs at the world's largest hedge fund bring its head count back to where it was in 2023, the person said.

The company's founder,Β Ray Dalio,Β said in a 2019 interview that about 30% of new employees were leaving the firm within 18 months.

Bumble said it intends to cut 30% of its workforce.
whitney wolfe herd bumble ceo founder
Founder and CEO of Bumble Whitney Wolfe attends Bumble Presents: Empowering Connections at Fair Market on March 9, 2018 in Austin, Texas.

Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Bumble

In a June 23 securities filing, Bumble said it plans to slash 240 roles, about 30% of its workforce. The dating app company said the cuts will result in charges between $13 million and $18 million in its third and fourth quarters.

"We recently made some difficult decisions to adjust our team structure in order to align with our strategic priorities," a Bumble spokesperson said.

They told BI that the decision to lay off over 200 employees wasn't "made lightly."

Burberry says it plans on cutting 1,700 jobs
Burberry logo and flag

Pietro Recchia/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Burberry announced 1,700 job cuts in May, or about 18% of its global workforce, as part of plans to cut costs by about Β£100 million ($130 million) by 2027.

It plans to end night shifts at its Yorkshire raincoat factory due to production over-capacity.

The British company sunk to an operating loss of Β£3 million for the year to the end of March, compared with a Β£418 million profit for the previous 12 months.

Chevron is slashing up to 20% of its global head count
The Chevron logo is displayed at a Chevron gas station.
The Chevron logo is displayed at a Chevron gas station.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

Oil giant Chevron plans to cull 15% to 20% of its global workforce by the end of 2026, the company said in a statement to Business Insider in February.

Chevron employed 45,600 people as of December 2023, which means the layoff could cut 9,000 jobs.

The move aims to reduce costs and simplify the company's business as it completes its acquisition of oil producer Hess, which is held up in legal limbo. It is expected to save the company $2 billion to $3 billion by the end of 2026, the company said.

"Chevron is taking action to simplify our organizational structure, execute faster and more effectively, and position the company for stronger long-term competitiveness," a Chevron spokesperson said in a statement.

The cuts follow a series of layoffs at other oil and gas companies, including BP and natural gas producer EQT.

CNN plans to cut 200 jobs
CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.
CNN is cutting staff in a bid to focus the business on its digital news services.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Cable news giantΒ CNNΒ cut about 200 television-focused roles as part of a digital pivot. The cuts amounted to about 6% of the company's workforce.

In a memo sent to staff on January 23, CNN's CEO Mark Thompson said he aimed to "shift CNN's gravity towards the platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting and, by doing that, to secure CNN's future as one of the world's greatest news organizations."

Coty is cutting about 700 jobs
OTY logo is seen displayed on a smartphone and in the background.

Illustration by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Coty, which sells cosmetics and fragrances under brands such as Kylie Cosmetics, Calvin Klein, and Burberry, is cutting about 700 jobs.

The company said on April 24 it aimed to cut costs by $130 million a year. Sue Nabi, the CEO, said it aimed to build a "stronger, more resilient Coty that is well-positioned for sustainable growth."

CrowdStrike is cutting about 500 jobs
Crowdstrike logo on a phone screen
The IT outage was triggered by a defect in an update issued by Crowdstrike.

Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/Getty Images

CrowdStrike, the Texas-headquartered cybersecurity firm, is cutting about 500 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce, as part of a strategic plan to "yield greater efficiencies."

It expects the layoffs to cost between $36 million and $53 million.

CrowdStrike is aiming to generate $10 billion in annual recurring revenue.

The company reported worse-than-expected annual results in March, signaling that it was yet to fully recover from a widespread tech outage linked to CrowdStrike in July 2024.

Disney says it's laying off several hundred employees
Disney logo is seen on the store in Rome, Italy on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Disney is carrying out its fourth layoff in the past year.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Disney confirmed to BI on June 2 that it was laying off several hundred employees globally.

Most of the cuts were to roles in marketing for films and TV under the Disney Entertainment division. Other roles affected included employees in publicity, casting, and development, as well as corporate finance.

In March, the company also cut around 200 people from its ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks. In 2024, the company also had several rounds of layoffs.

Shortly after Bob Iger returned to the company as CEO in 2022, he said 7,000 jobs at Disney would be cut as part of a reorganization.

EstΓ©e Lauder will cut as many as 7,000 jobs
estee lauder
American multinational skincare, and beauty products brand, EstΓ©e Lauder logo seen in Hong Kong.

Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Cosmetics giant EstΓ©e Lauder said in its second-quarter earnings release on February 4 that it will cut between 5,800 and 7,000 jobs as the company restructures over the next two years.

The cuts will focus on "rightsizing" certain teams, and it will look to outsource certain services. The company says it expects annual gross benefits of between $0.8 billion and $1.0 billion before tax.

Geico has axed tens of thousands of workers
geico

Geico

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chair of Insurance Operations Ajit Jain says Geico has reduced its workforce from about 50,000 to about 20,000. Jain revealed the reductions during Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting on May 3 but did not detail over what time frame they took place. Berkshire Hathaway is one of Geico's parent companies.

Warren Buffett's company reported its 2025 first-quarter earnings on during the May 3 meeting, saying Geico earned nearly $2.2 billion in pre-tax underwriting.

GrubHub announced 500 job cuts
A Grubhub delivery person rides in Manhattan.
GrubHub said it is focusing on aligning its business with Wonder after the takeover was completed last month.

Andrew Kelly/REUTERS

Grubhub CEO Howard Migdal announced 500 job cuts on February 28 after selling the company to Wonder Group for $650 million.

With more than 2,200 full time employees, the number of cuts will affect more than 20% of Grubhub's previous workforce.

According to Reuters, Just Eat Takeaway, an Amsterdam-listed company, sold Grubhub at a steep loss compared to the billions it paid a few years prior after grappling with slowing growth and high taxes.

HPE is laying off 2,500 employees
A man with grey hair wears a blue collared shirt and dark blue shirt. He gestures as he speaks while sitting on a stage in front of a large blue screen.
US company Hewlett Packard Enterprise President and Chief Officer Executive Antonio Neri gives a conference at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 27, 2024.

PAU BARRENA / AFP

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is cutting 2,500 jobs, or 5% of its employee base, CEO Antonio Neri said on an earnings call on March 6. The cuts are expected take to take place over the next 12 to 18 months.

"Doing so will better align our cost structure to our business mix and long-term strategy," Neri said. The company expects to save $350 million by 2027 because of the reduction.

HPE plummeted about 20% after hours on March 6 after it said business would be affected by recent tariffs, slow server and cloud sales, and "execution issues."

Intel to cut at least 15% of its factory workers
The Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, California
The Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, California

Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Chipmaker Intel is laying off more than 5,000 employees across four US states, according to a July 16 government filing.

Most of the cuts are happening in California and Oregon, while others are in Texas and Arizona, per updated Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, filings.

Intel began laying off employees in July as part of planned job cuts, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The company told staff on June 14 to expect 15% to 20% of employees in its Foundry division to be laid off this summer, according to a memo reported by The Oregonian. Intel confirmed the authenticity of the memo to BI but declined to comment on its contents.

As of December 2024, Intel employed about 108,900 people. In its annual report, the company told investors that it would reduce its "core Intel workforce" by about 15% in early 2025.

"Removing organizational complexity and empowering our engineers will enable us to better serve the needs of our customers and strengthen our execution," an Intel spokesperson told BI.

Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Medicine

Johns Hopkins University will cut over 2,000 jobs after losing $800 million in funding from USAID.

"This is a difficult day for our entire community," a spokesperson told BI. "The termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding is now forcing us to wind down critical work here in Baltimore and internationally."

The news comes after the Trump administration slashed USAID personnel down from over 10,000 to around 300. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently confirmed that 83% of the agency's programs are now dead.

"We can confirm that the elimination of foreign aid funding has led to the loss of 1,975 positions in 44 countries internationally and 247 in the United States in the affected programs," the Johns Hopkins spokesperson said. "An additional 29 international and 78 domestic employees will be furloughed with a reduced schedule."

The layoffs at Johns Hopkins represent the "largest" in the university's history, CNN reported. They'll primarily affect the schools of medicine and public health, along with the Center for Communication Programs and Jhpiego, a nonprofit with a focus on preventing diseases and bolstering women's health, according to the report.

Kohl's is reducing about 10% of its roles
A Kohl's department store in Miami.
A Kohl's department store in Miami.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Department store Kohl's announced on January 28 that it reduced about 10% of its corporate roles to "increase efficiencies" and "improve profitability for the long-term health and benefit of the business," a spokesperson told BI.

"Kohl's reduced approximately 10 percent of the roles that report into its corporate offices," the spokesperson said. "More than half of the total reduction will come from closing open positions while the remainder of the positions were currently held by our associates."

Less than 200 existing employees of the company would be impacted, she added.

This follows the company's announcement on January 9 that it would shutter 27 underperforming stores across 15 states by April.

The retailer has been struggling with declining sales, reporting an 8.8% decline in net sales in the third quarter of 2024.

Its previous CEO, Tom Kingsbury, stepped down on January 15. The company's board appointed Ashley Buchanan, a retail veteran who had held top jobs in The Michaels Companies, Macy's, and Walmart, as the new CEO.

Meta is cutting 5% of its workforce
Meta sign
Meta slashed its DEI team in January.

Fabrice COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff he "decided to raise the bar on performance management" and will act quickly to "move out low-performers," according to an internal memo seen by BI in January.

Those cuts started in February, according to records obtained by BI. Teams overseeing Facebook, the Horizon virtual reality platform, as well as logistics were among the hardest hit.

In April, Meta also laid off an undisclosed number of employees on the Reality Labs virtual reality division.

Previously, the company had laid off more than 21,000 workers since 2022.

Microchip Technology is slashing 2,000 jobs
Semiconductor manufacturing.
Nvidia semiconductor manufacturing.

Krystian Nawrocki/Getty Images

Microchip Technology is cutting its head count across the company by around 2,000 employees, the semiconductor company said on March 3.

The company estimated that it would incur between $30 million and $40 million in costs, including severance, severance benefits, and other restructuring costs.

The cuts would be communicated to employees in the March quarter and fully implemented by the end of the June quarter.

Last year, Microchip announced it was closing its Tempe, Arizona, facility because of slower-than-anticipated orders. The closure begins in May 2025 and is expected to affect 500 jobs.

Microchip's stock had fallen over 33% in the past year.

Microsoft has made several rounds of cuts this year
the Microsoft logo on a building.

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Microsoft cut an unspecified number of jobs in January based on employees' performance.

Workers were told that they wouldn't receive severance and that their benefits, such as medical insurance, would stop immediately, BI reported.

The company also laid off some employees in January at divisions including gaming and sales. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to say how many jobs were cut on the affected teams.

In May, the company announced layoffs affecting about 6,000 workers.

Another round of layoffs in July will affect less than 4% of its total workforce, or roughly 9,000 employees, based on its head count of around 220,000.

Morgan Stanley plans cuts for the end of March
Morgan Stanley

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Morgan Stanley is set to initiate a round of layoffs beginning at the end of March. The firm is eyeing cuts to about 2% to 3% of its global workforce, which would equate to between 1,600 to 2,400 jobs, according to a person familiar with the matter who confirmed the reductions to BI.

The firm's cuts are driven by several imperatives, the person said, pointing to considerations like operational efficiency, evolving business priorities, and individual employees' performance. The person said the cuts are not related to broader market conditions, such as the recent slowdown in mergers and acquisitions that's arrested momentum on Wall Street.

Some MS staffers will be excluded from the cuts, however β€” namely, the bank's battalion of financial advisors β€” though some who assist them, such as administrative personnel in its wealth-management unit, could be affected by the layoffs, the person added.

Nextdoor is slashing 12% of its staff
Nextdoor app

Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images

Neighborhood social networking company Nextdoor is cutting 12% of its staff, or 67 jobs, it said on August 7 in its second-quarter earnings report. The move is part of CEO Nirav Tolia's plan to achieve profitability and reorganize the struggling company.

The layoffs are expected to reduce operating expenses by about $30 million, it said in the earnings report.

The company reported a net loss of $15 million, compared to $43 million year-over-year.

Nissan says it will cut 20,000 jobs by 2027
Nissan

Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images

Japanese car giant Nissan is cutting 20,000 jobs by 2027 and reducing the number of factories it operates from 17 to 10 as it struggles with a dire financial situation.

The job losses include the 9,000 layoffs announced late last year, and come as the automaker faces headwinds from US tariffs on imported vehicles and collapsing sales in China.

Nissan reported a net loss of 671 billion yen ($4.5 billion) for the 2024 financial year, and said it would not issue an operating profit forecast for 2025 because of tariff uncertainty.

Oracle is reportedly cutting jobs from its cloud division.
Oracle office in Santa Monica, California
Oracle office in Santa Monica, California

Richard Vogel/AP

Oracle is cutting jobs in its cloud unit, Bloomberg reported. The cuts come as the company works to curb costs amid spending on AI infrastructure.

Sources familiar with the cuts told Bloomberg that some of the cuts were related to performance issues.

Oracle did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Panasonic is cutting 10,000 jobs
panasonic
A man looks at television sets by Japanese firm Panasonic at an electronics retailer in Tokyo June 10, 2015.

REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Panasonic, the Japanese-headquartered multinational electronics manufacturer, plans to cut 10,000 jobs this financial year, which ends in March 2026. The cuts will affect 5,000 roles in Japan and 5,000 overseas.

In a statement on May 9, the company said it planned to "thoroughly review operational efficiency … mainly in sales and indirect departments, and reevaluate the numbers of organisations and personnel actually needed."

"Through these measures, the company will optimize our personnel on a global scale," the statement added.

Paramount is cutting 3.5% of its US workforce
Paramount on building

PATRICK T. FALLON/Getty Images

Paramount told employees it would be laying off 3.5% of US-based staff based in the US, per a memo reported by CNBC on June 10, citing industry-wide declines and a challenging macroeconomic environment.

The move comes after the media company cut 15% of jobs last year to cut costs. Paramount had 18,600 employees at the end of 2024.

It is awaiting regulatory approval of its merger with Skydance Media.

Peloton is looking for $100 million in run-rate savings by next year
FILE PHOTO: A Peloton exercise bike is seen after the ringing of the opening bell for the company's IPO at the Nasdaq Market site in New York City, New York, U.S., September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
A Peloton exercise bike is seen after the ringing of the opening bell for the company's IPO at the Nasdaq Market site in New York City

Reuters

Peloton said in its August earnings report that it would cut its global headcount as part of an effort to find $100 million in run-rate cost savings by the end of the next fiscal year.

"As of today, we will have actioned about roughly half of the run rate savings through the reductions in our workforce and we expect to achieve the remainder throughout the balance of the year," CFO Elizabeth Coddington told investors on the earnings call.

The company employed about 2,900 people last year, and approximately 6% of the workforce will be affected by the reductions, Reuters reported.

Porsche is cutting 3,900 jobs over the next few years
The Porsche logo on the front trunk lid of a gold 2025 Porsche Taycan GTS EV sedan.
The Porsche logo on the front of a 2025 Porsche Taycan GTS EV.

Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider

Porsche said on March 12 that it plans to cut 3,900 jobs in the coming years.

About 2,000 of the reductions will come with the expiration of fixed-term contractor positions, the German automaker said. The company will make the other 1,900 reductions by 2029 through natural attrition and limiting hiring, it said.

Porsche said it also plans to discuss more potential changes with labor leaders in the second half of the year. "This will also make Porsche even more efficient in the medium and long term," the company said.

PwC is laying off approximately 2% of its US workforce
PwC, or Pricewaterhousecoopers.
PwC office in Washington D.C. in the United States of America, on July 11th, 2024. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The Big Four accounting firm said it's cutting roughly 1,500 jobs in the US because its low attrition rates mean not enough people are leaving by choice.

PwC's layoffs began on May 5 and mostly affect the firm's audit and tax lines, a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

"This was a difficult decision, and we made it with care, thoughtfulness, and a deep awareness of its impact on our people, appreciating that historically low levels of attrition over consecutive years have made it necessary to take this step," a PwC spokesperson said.

Salesforce is cutting more than 1,000 jobs
The outside of Salesforce Tower with the Salesforce logo, which is shaped like a cloud.

Gary Hershorn / Getty Images

Bloomberg reported in February that Salesforce, a cloud-based customer management software company, will slash more than 1,000 jobs from its nearly 73,000-strong workforce.

Affected employees will be eligible to apply to open internal roles, the outlet reported. The company is hiring salespeople focused on the company's new AI-powered products.

The cuts come despite Salesforce reporting a strong financial performance during its third-quarter earnings in December.

Salesforce did not respond to a request for comment.

Scale AI is cutting 14% of its workforce
Scale AI office
Scale AI is laying off 14% of its full time staff and hundreds of contractors.

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

On July 16, Scale AI laid off about 200 full-time employees and 500 contractors, according to the company.

The 200 full-time cuts make up 14% of the data labeling startup's 1,400-person workforce.

The company is restructuring its generative AI group, according to an email from Scale's interim CEO, Jason Droege, obtained by Business Insider.

The cuts follow Meta's $14 billion investment in Scale AI in June as part of a blockbuster deal. The deal included the hiring of Scale's ex-CEO, Alexandr Wang, and the purchase of equity in almost half of the startup.

Sonos cuts about 200 jobs
Sonos

Christoph Dernbach/picture alliance via Getty Images

Sonos, a California-based audio equipment company, said in a February 5 release that it's cutting about 200 roles.

The announcement came nearly a month after Sonos CEO Patrick Spence stepped down following a disastrous app rollout. Interim CEO Tom Conrad said in the statement that the layoffs were part of an effort to create a "simpler organization."

Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Boeing plane at an airport.
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737.

AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan announced in February that the company is laying off 15% of its corporate staff, or about 1,750 employees.

He said affected workers will keep their pay, benefits, and bonuses through late April, when the separations will take effect.

The company told investors the cuts would save about $210 million this year and $300 million in 2026.

The move comes as Southwest tries to cut costs amid profitability problems. Jordan said this is the first significant layoff the company has had in its 53-year history.

An activist hedge fund took a stake in Southwest in June and has since helped restructure its board and change its business model to keep up with a changing industry. For example, it plans to end its long-standing open-seating policy to generate more seating revenue.

In recent months, the company has also reduced flight crew positions in Atlanta to cut costs.

Starbucks is laying off 1,100 corporate staff
A customer wearing a magenta coat and black earmuffs opens the door and walks into a Starbucks store in New York City.

ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images

Starbucks planned to notify 1,100 corporate employees that they had been laid off on February 25.

CEO Brian Niccol said in a memo that the layoffs will make Starbucks "operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration."

The layoffs won't affect employees at Starbucks stores, the company said.

Niccol told employees that layoffs were on the way in a separate memo in January. The company is trying to improve results after sales slid last year.

Stripe laid off 300 employees
The logo for Stripe.
Stripe.

Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Payments platform Stripe laid off 300 employees, primarily in product, engineering, and operations, according to a January 20 memo obtained by BI.

Chief people officer Rob McIntosh said in the memo that the company still planned on growing its head count to about 10,000 employees by the end of the year.

UPS is cutting 20,000 jobs
A UPS Delivery Driver

Vincent Alban/REUTERS

UPS announced on April 29 that it plans to cut 20,000 jobs this year β€” about 4% of its global workforce β€” as part of a shift toward automation and a strategic reduction in business with Amazon.

"With our action, we will emerge as an even stronger, more nimble UPS," the company's CEO, Carol TomΓ©, said in a statement.

The move follows a sharp 16% drop in Amazon package volume in Q4 and is part of a plan to halve its Amazon business by mid-2026. UPS will also close 73 US buildings by June and automate 400 facilities to reduce labor dependency.

The Teamsters union have said they would fight any layoffs affecting its members.

The Washington Post cut 4% of its non-newsroom workforce
The Washington Post building

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The Washington Post eliminated fewer than 100 employees in an effort to cut costs, Reuters reported in January.

A spokesperson told the news agency that the cuts wouldn't affect the newsroom: "The Washington Post is continuing its transformation to meet the needs of the industry, build a more sustainable future and reach audiences where they are."

Wayfair laid off 340 tech employees
Wayfair logo on building
Wayfair laid off about 340 tech employees.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Wayfair announced in an SEC filing on March 7 that it would eliminate its Austin Technology Development Center and lay off around 340 tech workers.

The reorg comes as the technology team has accomplished "significant modernization and replatforming milestones," the company said in the filing. Wayfair said it plans to refocus resources and streamline operations to promote its "next phase of growth."

"With the foundation of this transformation now in place, our technology needs have shifted," the company said.

Wayfair expects to take on $33 to $38 million in costs as a result of the reorganization, consisting of severance, cash employee-related costs, benefits, and transitional costs.

Workday cut more than 8% of its workforce
Workday logo
Workday said it's cutting 8.5% of its workforce and focusing on AI.

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Workday, the human-resources software company, said in February that it is cutting 8.5% of its workforce, or around 1,750 employees. The layoffs came as the company focuses more on artificial intelligence.

In a note to employees, CEO Carl Eschenbach said that Workday will focus on hiring in areas related to artificial intelligence and work to expand its global presence.

"The environment we're operating in today demands a new approach, particularly given our size and scale," Eschenbach wrote. He said that affected employees will get at least 12 weeks of pay.

Is your company conducting layoffs? Got a tip?
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Tim Robberts/Getty Images

Have a tip? Contact Dominick Reuter via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

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Photos show scenes from the Texas floods and the summer camp where 10 children remain missing

6 July 2025 at 22:35
A raging Guadalupe River leaves fallen trees and debris in its wake, Friday, July 4, in Kerrville, Texas.
Fallen trees and debris along the Guadalupe River on July 4 in Kerrville, Texas.

AP/Eric Gay

  • Torrential rain and flash floods hit parts of central Texas early Friday morning.
  • Officials said that at least 78 people have died, but that they expect that number to rise.
  • 10 children and a counselor remain missing from Camp Mystic, a local summer camp.

At least 78 people have died after heavy rainfall caused flash flooding in parts of central Texas on Friday.

During a press conference on Sunday, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said 68 people are confirmed dead, including 40 adults and 28 children. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said another 10 people were killed in the broader central Texas.

Officials said 10 children and one counselor from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' camp along the Guadalupe River, remained unaccounted for. In areas affected by the flooding across the state, there are still 41 known missing people.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes on Friday as torrential rain battered the region. The National Weather Service said the river reached the second-highest height on record.

The agency on Sunday extended a flood watch for parts of central Texas through 7 p.m. local time.

Here are some images showing the impact of the flooding and ongoing search and rescue efforts.

A view of Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, after floods on July 4, 2025.
A view of Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, on July 5.

RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP

A cabin at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, after flooding on July 4, 2025.
A cabin at Camp Mystic on July 5, after the floods.

RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP

A damaged vehicle at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, on July 5.
A damaged vehicle at Camp Mystic.

RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP

A damaged building at Camp Mystic in Hunt Texas.
A damaged building at Camp Mystic.

RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP

Officials comb through the banks of the Guadalupe River on July 5, 2025.
Officials search the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas on July 5.

AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Debris rests on a bridge over the Guadalupe River in Texas after  flooding on July 5
Debris on a bridge over the Guadalupe River.

AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Laeighton Sterling (R) and Nicole Whelam observe flood waters from the banks of the Guadalupe River on July 4, in Kerrville, Texas.
Residents watch flood waters in Kerrville, Texas.

Eric Vryn/Getty Images

Trees emerge from flood waters along the Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas.
Trees along the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas.

Eric Vryn/Getty Images

Boerne Search and Rescue teams navigate upstream in an inflatable boat on the flooded Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025 in Comfort, Texas.
Search and rescue teams on the Guadalupe River.

Eric Vryn/Getty Images

A Kerrville resident watches the rising waters of the Guadalupe River on July 4, in Kerrville, Texas.
A Kerrville resident watches the rising waters of the Guadalupe River on July 4.

Eric Vryn/Getty Images

Flood waters left debris, including vehicles and equipment, scattered in Louise Hays Park on July 5  in Kerrville.
Debris from flood waters in Kerrville.

Eric Vryn/Getty Images

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Military experts weigh in on China's new mosquito-like spy drone

6 July 2025 at 11:24
China showcased a new mosquito-sized spy drone.
China showcased a new mosquito-sized spy drone.

CCTV

  • Last month, China unveiled a mosquito-like spy drone designed for covert military operations.
  • The drone's size and weight could limit its uses on the battlefield, military analysts told BI.
  • It could still prove to be an effective new surveillance tool, experts say.

Last month, China's National University of Defense Technology unveiled a new spy drone designed to look like a mosquito.

Showcased on the state-run CCTV-7 military broadcaster, the micro-drone appeared to be roughly the size of a human fingernail and featured tiny, leaf-like wings and thin, wiry legs.

While it may not look as impressive as some of the bigger unmanned systems coming out of Ukraine, its stick-thin body is said to be equipped for a range of covert surveillance and military operations.

"As a drone to surveil buildings, especially on the inside, I can imagine it being quite useful for video feeds," Herb Lin, a senior research scholar at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, told Business Insider.

But its small size may limit its uses on the battlefield.

"If it's real, and powered conventionally (with a battery), its longevity in the air will be limited by battery capacity," Lin said. "Also, it's very light, and therefore easily buffeted by winds. These factors suggest it isn't particularly useful for wide-area surveillance."

Drones can be highly sensitive to weather, in particular strong winds, rain, snow, cold weather, and fog.

And the smaller an aerial drone is, the more susceptible it is to such conditions, Samuel Bendett, an advisor with the Center for Naval Analyses and drone expert, said. "Even indoors, there can be conditions that could interfere with this drones' performance, such as even a slight breeze, an air flow from an AC, an open window, or other obstacles."

Communications are another issue to consider, Bendett continued, as the drone's size means it's unlikely to be able to carry much advanced equipment.

"While it is technically possible to build a tiny UAV like the one displayed by the Chinese developers, its actual performance is likely to greatly vary," he said.

Others say that the new drone is a sign of China's continuing innovation in the sector.

Michael Horowitz, a senior fellow for technology and innovation at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it showed "Chinese researchers in particular want to push forward technological innovation in drones."

It remains unclear how real the capability is, how soon China could field the tech, or the type of missions it could use them for, he added.

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Defense Department employees received an email asking for ideas on how to 'root out waste'

28 May 2025 at 17:17
Pentagon.
Pentagon employees were instructed by email to provide ideas for departmental efficiency and waste reduction.

Jen Golbeck/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

  • Defense Department civilians were asked to submit ideas to save money.
  • The request marked the end of DOGE's five-bullet exercise every week.
  • Employees were instructed to exclude classified info from their submissions.

Defense Department employees received an all-staff email asking them to submit ideas on how to "root out waste."

The request marked the end of the controversial five-bullet exercise, in which federal employees were asked by the Department of Government Efficiency to send five bullet points of their accomplishments every week.

The final email, seen by Business Insider, was sent last week by Jules Hurst III, the acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

Hurst thanked Pentagon staff for "submitting weekly achievements over the past couple of months," adding that the weekly emails had served as reminders for "the depth and breadth of the Department's mission."

The email said that to conclude DOGE's five-bullet exercise, which was introduced in February, "we need one last input from you."

It asked civilian staff to "please submit one idea that will improve the Department's efficiency or root out waste" by May 28.

"It can be big or small. It can be focused on a particular program or on larger Department operations," wrote Hurst. "I invite you to be creative."

Employees were instructed to "exclude classified or sensitive information" from their submissions.

The email stressed that employees "without email access due to leave, shift work, temporary duty, or other valid reasons must comply with 12 hours of regaining access" and asked the supervisors of warehouse and shipyard employees without regular office or email access to liaise "directly with their employees."

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said that he hopes that DOGE, overseen by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, can bring "actual businesslike efficiency to government."

Mara Karlin, who previously served as the assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities, wrote in a commentary for Foreign Affairs last month that running the Pentagon like a business could backfire.

She said the DoD has to consider risk "far more soberly and carefully than in the corporate world," because the risk factor in defense is "uniquely high."

The Trump administration has prioritized efforts to increase efficiency at the Defense Department, but it also abruptly fired the department's top inspector general, who was charged with finding waste, fraud and abuse.

The administration plans to shift as much as $50 billion from existing programs to new priorities.

Hegseth announced in April that the DoD would be scrapping billions of dollars worth of IT and consulting contracts, affecting companies such as Accenture and Deloitte.

Last week, Business Insider reported that the Pentagon's IT agency was facing a 10% cut to its civilian workforce.

Karlin said, "The Pentagon needs change, but effective reform will require appreciating the uniqueness of the organization. So far, the signs are not encouraging."

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Tesla faces an uphill battle as 6 major European electric vehicle markets report double-digit drops in sales

5 May 2025 at 14:01
Protesters gather outside a Tesla dealership in Lisbon, Portugal. Sales in the country declined by 33% in April.
Protesters gather outside a Tesla dealership in Lisbon, Portugal. Tesla vehicle sales in the country declined by 33% in April from the previous year.

PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP

  • Tesla sales fell by up to 81% in some key European EV markets in April, signaling a major downturn.
  • Growing competition from rivals like China's BYD have affected Tesla sales.
  • Demand may have also been hurt by a backlash over Elon Musk's politics.

Tesla has seen a sharp decline in sales in key European markets, with electric vehicle registrations dropping by up to 81% in six major markets in April, compared to the same month last year.

Car registration figures for France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal, and Denmark, revealed double-digit declines for Tesla sales, Reuters reported.

Many of these are high-income countries with robust charging infrastructure β€” typically fertile ground for Tesla.

Sales fell by 59% year-on-year in France, 81% in Sweden, 74% in the Netherlands, 50% in Switzerland, 33% in Portugal, and 67% in Denmark.

The main exceptions were Norway and Italy, which respectively saw a 12% and 29% increase in Tesla sales compared to April 2024, registration data from the Norwegian Road Federation and Italian Transport Ministry showed.

However, Italian sales were still down an overall 4% in the first four months of 2025, per the Transport Ministry.

Why the two countries didn't follow a similar pattern of decline was unclear, and the overall trend suggests a significant drop-off in crucial markets.

This could partly be attributed to political tensions tied to Elon Musk's divisive role in the Trump administration and advocacy for right-wing European parties.

The "Tesla Takedown" movement arose earlier this year after Musk voiced support for parties including Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany.

So far this year, two Tesla sites, including the vehicles there, were defaced with orange paint in the Swedish cities of Stockholm and MalmΓΆ, as well as the Tesla branch in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Demonstrations against Musk and Tesla were held across cities in the Netherlands, and protestors also gathered outside Tesla showrooms in Portugal and Denmark. A further 12 Teslas were set on fire in Toulouse, France.

Alongside resistance to Musk and his politics, the Tesla drop-off in Europe could linked to growing competition in the EV market, notably from Chinese firms.

Tesla's aging model lineup has struggled to match newer EVs from rivals like China's BYD, whose models feature cutting-edge charging speeds and lower prices.

Professor Peter Wells, director of Cardiff University's Centre for Automotive Industry Research, told the BBC News in March: "We've not seen the level of innovation in terms of the product range that perhaps Elon Musk should have been looking for. I think that is a big part of their problem."

In a 2011 interview with Bloomberg, Musk rejected the possibility of BYD becoming a viable competitor.

But last year, BYD reported $107 billion in revenue, compared to Tesla's $98 billion. It also reported its first-quarter earnings increased 100% compared to the same period last year.

BYD has rolled out 1,000 kW chargers that are four times more powerful than Tesla's current chargers. These chargers, it says, can add 200 miles of range in just 15 minutes of charging.

The Tesla rival has also aggressively expanded outside China in recent years.

Tesla's dominance in Europe is waning β€” and reversing the trend may be Musk's toughest challenge yet.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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Reid Hoffman shares his daily AI habit that he says gives him a 'lens' on the tech's future

26 April 2025 at 14:33
LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman prompts AI tools daily.
LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman.

Dominik Bindl/Getty Images

  • Reid Hoffman said he uses OpenAI's Deep Research every day to have a "lens" on AI's future.
  • He said using "chain-of-thought" models offered an insight into how these products could be "workers in the future."
  • He added that "a bunch of folks" were in the race to develop the best agentic AI.

Reid Hoffman has said he uses a specific tool daily to gain insight into how AI products could be "workers in the future."

The LinkedIn cofounder and investor said he did "at least" one prompt daily with OpenAI's Deep Research tool, an agentic tool for automating complex multi-step internet research. He also said there was many companies building "strong" offerings in the race to make AI agents.

Hoffman, who stood down as an OpenAI director in 2023, citing potential conflicts of interest with his other AI investments, was asked about the startup during an interview on Bloomberg Television on Friday.

He said he was using Deep Research once a day, and that it "gives you the lens to the amplification we're going to get with these products as workers in the future."

The rise of agentic AI, which can independently act on a person's behalf and make decisions without human intervention, has fuelled speculation about how and when AI might replace human workers.

A group of Carnegie Mellon researchers ran a virtual simulation designed to test how AI agents fare in real-world professional scenarios. They found that the top-performing model finished less than one-quarter of all tasks.

"While agents may be used to accelerate some portion of the tasks that human workers are doing, they are likely not a replacement for all tasks at the moment," Graham Neubig, a computer science professor at CMU and one of the researchers, previously told BI.

Hoffman, who cofounded Manas AI, said he saw no clear leader in the race to develop agentic AI, saying there was "a bunch of folks who are doing very strong things," and "not just OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google."

Bloomberg interviewer Ed Ludlow told Hoffman he was increasingly talking to AI in voice mode, which he called "a psychological thing that, as a consumer, you kind of have to get over."

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Trump and Zelenskyy met ahead of the Pope's funeral — their first encounter since their White House clash

26 April 2025 at 13:54
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy pictured together at St. Peter's Basilica.
Β 

HANDOUT/Telegram /@ermaka2022/AFP via Getty Images

  • Trump and Zelenskyy met at the Vatican before Pope Francis' funeral.
  • This was their first meeting since a heated exchange at the White House in February.
  • "Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic," Zelenskyy later wrote on X.

Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met on Saturday β€” their first encounter since a heated exchange at the White House two months ago.

The two leaders held a discussion inside St. Peter's Basilica, ahead of the Pope's funeral, with French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer present during the initial moments.

Zelenskyy and Trump had not met since their heated exchange in the Oval Office on February 28, in which Trump said of Ukraine's war against Russia, "You're either going to make a deal or we're out."

US President Donald Trump pointing his finger at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while the pair sit on armchairs and talk.
Trump and Zelenskyy's meeting in Rome was their first since their clash in the Oval Office on February 28.

Brian Snyder/REUTERS

Four days later, Trump announced a pause in US military aid, and the EU declared "an era of rearmament," as it unveiled a defense funding boost.

The Oval Office meeting was in the glare of the world's press, but photos of the Rome meeting show Trump and Zelenskyy seated close together, without aides or interpreters.

Andrii Yermak, a senior aide to Zelenskyy, shared a photo of the leaders in St. Peter's Basilica on Telegram. "Constructive," he wrote.

Steven Cheung, White House communications director, called it a "very productive discussion."

Posting X, Zelenskyy said the encounter had been a "good meeting."

"We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results," he said.

The Rome meeting comes after Steve Witkoff, Trump's designated peace envoy, travelled to Moscow for discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov said the talks centered on "the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine."

Following Witkoff's return, Trump said on Truth Social that "most of the major points are agreed to" and that a cease-fire deal between Kyiv and Moscow was "very close."

As he prepared to leave for Rome on Friday, Trump told reporters that the talks were "very fragile." He has also warned that the US might halt its mediation efforts if a deal isn't reached soon.

After the meeting on Saturday, Zelenskyy was greeted with applause when he walked out of St Peter's Basilica after paying his respects in front of the pontiff's coffin.

Trump later wrote a long post on Truth Social, in which he called the war in Ukraine "Sleepy Joe Biden's War, not mine. It was a loser from day one."

The long post ended, "There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through "Banking" or "Secondary Sanctions?" Too many people are dying!!!"

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