Large-scale layoffs have become a defining feature of corporate restructuring over the past decade, particularly in technology, telecommunications, and industrial sectors. Shifting consumer demand, automation, post-pandemic corrections, rising interest rates, and aggressive pushes into artificial intelligence have all contributed to companies reassessing headcount. While layoffs are often framed as efficiency measures or strategic resets, their scale and frequency have reshaped entire industries and workforces.
The following companies are widely recognized for conducting major layoffs, often repeatedly, as part of broader transformations. These reductions have affected tens of thousands of employees and show how large corporations operate, compete, and prioritize growth.
Meta (Facebook)
Meta Platforms has cut thousands of jobs as it moves toward greater operational efficiency and pivots resources to artificial intelligence. In early 2025, the company reduced its workforce by about 3,600 positions — roughly 5% of its staff — in performance-based layoffs across functions as part of a broader “year of efficiency.” These followed earlier mass layoffs of over 21,000 roles in 2022–2023 during a major restructuring that included cuts across engineering, recruiting, and product teams.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the layoffs as part of a shift toward becoming a “leaner” and more efficient company, with a renewed focus on artificial intelligence and core social platforms. Entire teams were eliminated or consolidated, particularly in recruiting, hardware, and experimental product divisions, signaling a move away from speculative projects toward revenue-generating technologies. Smaller rounds in 2025 affected teams such as Superintelligence Labs, where roughly 600 employees were laid off while some recruiting and internal staffing continued for new AI units.
Amazon
Amazon has undertaken repeated workforce reductions as it adjusts to slower post-pandemic e-commerce growth and rebalances costs. In 2025, the company announced layoffs of approximately 14,000 corporate jobs — its largest single cut since the prior wave in 2023, which saw about 27,000 roles eliminated globally across tech, retail, operations, AWS, and devices teams.
These job cuts reflect Amazon’s bid to simplify its organizational structure, reduce management layers, and shift focus toward artificial intelligence investments and key growth platforms like AWS. Leadership emphasized internal support like job placement assistance and severance, even as the company continues growing other areas, including seasonal and fulfillment hiring.
Google (Alphabet)
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has also made significant workforce reductions over the last few years. In January 2023, Google cut about 12,000 jobs, affecting units across cloud, recruiting, hardware, and business operations. CNBC Recent rounds in 2025 included layoffs that hit thousands in areas like People Operations, Android, and cloud divisions, although exact totals for the year vary by tracker and round.
These layoffs were part of broader efforts to reallocate resources toward artificial intelligence development, streamline recruitment, and focus on higher-priority product lines. Google leadership cited the need to better balance cost structures amid economic pressures and evolving business strategies.
Microsoft
Microsoft has executed multiple large layoffs as part of restructuring tied to shifting priorities like cloud services and AI. In May 2025, the company cut more than 6,000 jobs, and in July it announced another round of about 9,000 layoffs — the biggest workforce reduction in over two years.
These cuts affected a range of divisions including sales, gaming, and corporate functions. Microsoft’s leadership noted that the reductions were necessary to control costs while continuing significant investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure, said to be central to future growth.
Twitter / X
After Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (now branded X) in late 2022, the company underwent one of the most dramatic workforce collapses in the tech sector. Estimates suggest that within months, X laid off a majority of its roughly 7,500 employees — in some cases exceeding 3,700 job cuts — eliminating large swaths of engineering, safety, and communications staff.
These cuts aimed to reduce costs and reorient the platform under Musk’s direction. The steep downsizing raised concerns about product stability, content moderation capabilities, and long-term advertiser confidence, as the company continued to operate with a much smaller team.
IBM
IBM remains known for recurring layoffs as it transitions away from legacy hardware and toward cloud and AI services. In 2025, the company announced layoffs impacting several thousand roles worldwide, with some outlets reporting roughly 3,900 positions cut as part of repositioning efforts.
These reductions are part of IBM’s broader workforce rebalancing, which includes periodic cuts coupled with new hiring in high-growth segments like software and hybrid cloud. Leadership describes the moves as efforts to match skills with evolving client demand while trimming legacy operations.
Intel
Intel’s layoffs have been among the largest in the semiconductor industry as the company grapples with declining PC demand and fierce competition. According to recent reports, Intel has cut around 24,000 jobs as part of major restructuring efforts to streamline operations, including factory realignments and strategic pivots under new executive leadership.
Earlier layoffs and workforce reductions have continued throughout 2025, with regional state filings showing thousands of specific job losses in U.S. hubs like Oregon. These moves reflect broader challenges in the chip market, with the company attempting to refocus on core technologies and efficiency.
UPS (United Parcel Service)
The United Parcel Service announced one of the largest workforce reductions among U.S. non-tech companies in 2025, with about 48,000 jobs eliminated throughout the year. These cuts included roughly 34,000 operational roles and 14,000 management positions in a sweeping cost-cutting program.
UPS attributed these layoffs to efforts to boost efficiency, automate more processes, and adapt to declines in package volume since the pandemic peak. Leadership described the restructuring as the most significant operational overhaul in the company’s history.
General Electric (GE)
General Electric has eliminated tens of thousands of jobs over the past decade as part of one of the largest corporate restructurings in U.S. history. Between 2017 and 2019 alone, GE cut more than 30,000 positions globally, including roughly 12,000 jobs in its Power division as demand for large-scale energy equipment collapsed. Additional layoffs followed as the company exited financial services, sold off assets, and reduced debt.
Workforce reductions continued through GE’s breakup into separate companies focused on aviation, healthcare, and energy. While GE no longer announces layoffs as a single headline number, its total employee count fell from over 300,000 in the early 2000s to under 170,000 by the early 2020s, reflecting decades of repeated job cuts tied to restructuring, divestitures, and shifting industrial priorities.
AT&T
AT&T is one of the most prolific layoff offenders among U.S. corporations by sheer volume. Between 2018 and 2021, AT&T eliminated more than 40,000 jobs, largely following its acquisitions of DirecTV and Time Warner and the company’s subsequent effort to reduce debt and unwind its media strategy. Many of the cuts affected legacy landline, customer service, and administrative roles.
Layoffs have continued in recent years as AT&T refocused on wireless and fiber broadband. In 2023 and 2024, the company cut several thousand additional positions, including roughly 5,000 jobs tied to office consolidations and operational streamlining. Overall, AT&T’s workforce shrank from about 280,000 employees in 2015 to roughly 160,000 by the mid-2020s, underscoring how layoffs have been a recurring tool in the company’s long-term restructuring.
