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The best laptops for gaming and schoolwork in 2025

While there remain regular laptops and gaming laptops, the line that separates them has nearly disappeared. Today, if you have a fast CPU and graphics card, along with perks like a big screen and a good cooling system, you can play a decent number of games on your laptop. Besides, not everyone wants a big, garish gaming rig, nor does everyone want to spend the money required to get one of those. If you’re considering a new laptop for school, there are more options now than ever before that can both get you through your most challenging studies and keep up with your next AAA play through. These are our top picks for the best laptops for gaming and schoolwork — but if you’re looking for a dedicated gaming laptop rather than an all-in-one machine, check out our best gaming laptops list for our recommendations.

Best laptops for gaming and school in 2025

Are gaming laptops good for school?

As we’ve mentioned, gaming laptops are especially helpful if you're doing any demanding work. Their big promise is powerful graphics performance, which isn't just limited to PC gaming. Video editing and 3D rendering programs can also tap into their GPUs to handle laborious tasks. While you can find decent GPUs on some productivity machines, like Dell's XPS 15, you can sometimes find better deals on gaming laptops. My general advice for any new workhorse: Pay attention to the specs; get at least 16GB of RAM and the largest solid state drive you can find (ideally 1TB or more). Those components are both typically hard to upgrade down the line, so it’s worth investing what you can up front to get the most out of your PC gaming experience long term. Also, don’t forget the basics like a webcam, which will likely be necessary for the schoolwork portion of your activities.

The one big downside to choosing a gaming notebook is portability. For the most part, we'd recommend 15-inch models to get the best balance of size and price. Those typically weigh in around 4.5 pounds, which is significantly more than a three-pound ultraportable. Today's gaming notebooks are still far lighter than older models, though, so at least you won't be lugging around a 10-pound brick. If you’re looking for something lighter, there are plenty of 14-inch options these days. And if you're not into LED lights and other gamer-centric bling, keep an eye out for more understated models that still feature essentials like a webcam (or make sure you know how to turn those lights off).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/best-laptops-for-gaming-and-school-132207352.html?src=rss

©

© Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

The best laptops for gaming and schoolwork

The fabulous life of Michael Dell, the $122 billion tech icon betting big on AI

Michael Dell
Michael Dell dropped out of college after starting his computer company.

John Locher/AP

  • Michael Dell is one of the world's wealthiest people, with a net worth of more than $100 billion.
  • The Dell Technologies founder made his fortune by democratizing the PC and striking shrewd deals.
  • Here's a look at his background, career, and how he spends his fortune.

Michael Dell, the tech entrepreneur who helped bring the personal computer to the masses, ranks among the world's wealthiest people with a net worth of $122 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

From his early career as one of the youngest CEOs of a Fortune 500 company until now, Dell is used to getting his way. He was only 23 when his company had its IPO in 1988. Dell took the PC maker private in 2013 only to relist it five years later, and has now shifted the company's focus toward serving the artificial intelligence boom.

Dell lives the extravagant life of a successful business figure as well, complete with all of the private planes, summer homes, and sweet rides you'd expect from a billionaire.

Michael Dell was born on Feb. 23, 1965, in Houston, Texas.
young michael dell

Facebook.com/michaelsdell

Dell was fascinated with gadgets from a young age. When he was 15, he bought one of the first Apple computers and disassembled it to see if he could put it back together.

Source: Academy of Achievement

When Dell was in high school, he got a job selling newspaper subscriptions.
young michael dell

Facebook.com/michaelsdell

After figuring out how to target an untapped customer base, he made $18,000 in just one year.

Source: Academy of Achievement

Though he was really only interested in computers, Dell entered the University of Texas at Austin as a pre-med student in 1983.
michael dell austin

Harry Cabluck / AP Images

He spent his spare time upgrading PCs and selling them from his dorm room, making $180,000 in his first month of business. Though Dell never came back for his sophomore year, he returned to his dorm for a photo opp in 1999.

Source: Entrepreneur

In 2018, Dell tweeted out the first financial statement from his dorm PC company.
Dell invoice

Twitter/Michael Dell

Dell used the statement to convince his parents that he didn't have to go back to college.

He sold nearly $1 million worth of computers and, after paying salaries and expenses, made over $198,000 in gross profit.

He officially launched his company in 1984, under the name PC's Limited.
Michael Dell 1984
Michael Dell 1984

Dell

It soon became one of the fastest-growing companies in the country, raking in more than $6 million in sales in its first year of business.

Source: Entrepreneur

He changed the company's name to Dell Computer Corp. in 1987, and sales continued to soar.
michael dell 1989

Rebecca McEntee / AP Images

It went public in 1988, raising $30 million. Dell made about $18 million from the deal, and by 1992, the 27-year-old CEO was the youngest person to lead a Fortune 500 company.

Source: Entrepreneur, Academy of Achievement

In 1988, he went on a blind date with Susan Lieberman, a fashion designer from Dallas.
michael susan dell

Facebook.com/michaelsdell

The two had an instant connection. "Most men I dated talked about themselves a lot and tried to impress me," Susan told Texas Monthly. "He was the nicest guy I'd ever met."

They were married in October 1989 and have four children.

In 2001, Susan Dell designed the inaugural ball gowns for Jenna and Barbara Bush.

She operated a successful boutique in Austin and even had two labels of her own before opening a new fashion brand, Phi, in New York City, which she closed in 2009.

Source: Austin Business Journal, Texas Monthly, New York Magazine

His son, Zack Dell, started following in his dad's footsteps.
Zachary Dell Thread

AngelList

In 2014, at age 17, Zach cofounded his own dating startup Thread. Thread later became a photo-sharing app but is no longer around.

The family's 33,000-square-foot home outside Austin is called "the Castle" because of its hilltop perch and heavy security presence.
michael dell austin castle

Bing Maps

The house boasts eight bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a tennis court, indoor and outdoor pools, and gorgeous views of Lake Austin.

Source: The Independent

 

Dell also owns a 6,380-square-foot contemporary ranch house in the nearby hills, where the family keeps Arabian horses.
Dell 6D Ranch
6D Ranch

White Construction/Architect: Gwathmey Siege

The Dell family has spent vacations at the "Raptor Residence," a seven-bedroom, 18,500-square-foot compound in Kukio, Hawaii.
michael dell hawaii

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, Bing Maps

Dell loved the resort area of Hualalai so much that in 2006, with the help of Walmart heir Rob Walton, he bought the hotel and resort through his investment company, MSD Capital
Four Seasons Resort Hualalai

Four Seasons Hotels

Dell started MSD Capital in 1998 to manage his family's wealth. The firm has made investments in a number of companies, including IHOP and Applebee's parent company, apparel company Phillips-Van Heusen, and offshore oil drilling company Independence Contract Drilling.

Source: Bloomberg, Pitchbook, SEC filings.

Through MSD Capital, Michael Dell also invested in real estate in Hawaii, Mexico, and California.
Dell MSD Capital

MSD Capital

The company invests in luxury hotels, commercial and multifamily properties, and land development, and it participates in other real-estate-development funds.

Dell has his fair share of hot wheels as well.
porsche boxster

Dave Pinter/Flickr

His car collection at one point included a 2004 Porsche Boxster, a Porsche Carrera GT, and a Hummer H2.

Source: MSN 

He's also owned private jets including a Gulfstream V.
michael susan dell

Facebook.com/MichaelSDell

Private planes come in handy when Michael and Susan Dell travel for their nonprofit.

Since 1999, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has given billions to nonprofits and social enterprises in the US, India, and South Africa.  

 

Dell is friends with other tech billionaires.
Michael Dell and Marc Benioff
Michael Dell and Marc Benioff

Fitbit

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is a particular buddy. The two of them did a public Fitbit walking challenge in 2014 and Benioff's team won. But Dell is so competitive (and also a fitness fanatic), that Benioff jokingly suspected that Dell put his Fitbit on his dog to help him score more steps.

Source: Fitbit, Business Insider

CEO to chairman and back again
Michael Dell

AP

In 2004, Dell left the helm of his PC company and became chairman. But in 2007, with Dell's share of the PC market declining, he shook up management, took the reins as CEO, and never let go again. As the PC market continued to decline, he expanded into new markets through new products and acquisitions.

In 2013, the Texan won a long battle to take Dell private, fighting off legendary activist investor Carl Icahn, who wanted to stop the deal, replace the board, and fire Dell.

 

Two years after winning that battle, Dell announced plans to buy EMC for $67 billion.
michael dell joe tucci emc
EMC CEO Joe Tucci shaking hands with Michael Dell.

Dell

The financing of a deal this huge was complicated, and at first, skeptics thought it would fall apart, citing everything from tax complications to pushback from investors in VMware, a company EMC mostly owned.

Dell didn't lose.
Michael Dell Portrait Illustration

Mike Nudelman/Business Insider

Instead, he catapulted his company into a much bigger one with the purchase of EMC. He became the leader of what was then the largest private company in the tech industry.

After five years as a private company, Dell went public again in late 2018 through a complex arrangement that involved buying back shares in VMware, the software business in which it held an 80% stake.

He received a huge windfall in November 2023, when Broadcom closed its $69 billion takeover of VMware.

The PC tycoon owned nearly 40% of the cloud-computing business before it was sold to the microchip giant. As a result, he received well over $20 billion in Broadcom stock and cash in exchange for his stake, filings show.

Dell stock has surged by over 300% over the past two years, as investors bet it will be a key player in the AI revolution.
Dell CEO

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Dell shares have soared from below $34 in September 2022 to around $115, valuing the company at about $79 billion.

The stock surge likely reflects the company's pivot to providing a broad suite of AI solutions to corporations, selling everything from servers and data storage to AI PCs, networking, and services.

Dell trumpeted AI's potential in an interview published this September, saying it would "accelerate and advance scientific discovery" and "make humans happier, healthier, and more successful."

"I'm incredibly excited about it," he added. "As with any new thing, there are all sorts of uncertainties and questions, including how's it all going to happen. Nobody knows, and we love being in the middle of it."

Source: McKinsey

 

Dell's net worth has soared to more than $100 billion.
Michael Dell
Michael Dell

Tony Avelar/AP Images for Dell Inc.

Dell's surging stock has supercharged its founder's net worth, raising it from about $45 billion two years ago to $122 billion.

Dell is now one of the dozen or so centibillionaires, and ranks 11th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Read the original article on Business Insider

The word business leaders use to hedge when staff ask if they're planning a return to 5 days in the office

walking to work
Executives at some major companies say they're sticking to hybrid work as long as workers stay productive.

Ezra Bailey

  • Staff at major companies have asked their leaders if there are plans to follow Amazon's full return to office.
  • Firms like Meta, Google, and Microsoft have a hybrid setup — however, execs say they're eyeing productivity.
  • Research findings on the subject are varied, and the debate will likely continue in 2025.

Executives at major companies are referencing a specific term to hedge when asked by employees if they plan to follow in Amazon's footsteps and implement a return to 5 days a week in the office.

That word? Productivity.

While Amazon has been the most high-profile example this year of a full return to office policy, set to go into effect in January, telecom giant AT&T has also elected to double down on in-person work with a similar 5-day policy, Business Insider first reported.

In the wake of Amazon's announcement, executives at both Google and Microsoft, which require employees to be in the office at least 3 days a week, have fielded questions from staff wondering if the days of hybrid work are numbered.

Microsoft's executive vice president of cloud and AI, Scott Guthrie, said the company wouldn't change the hybrid work policy unless it noticed a drop in productivity, BI reported in September.

In October, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company had no plans to order employees back to the office, so long as employees remain productive during their at-home work days, BI previously reported.

Over at Meta, Mark Zuckerberg said last year that "early analysis of performance data," indicated productivity increases for early-career engineers in the office at least 3 days a week. A few months later, the company announced it was requiring employees to return to the office 3 days a week.

Executives at Dell called the company's sales team back to the office 5 days a week starting at the end of September, writing in a memo, "Our data shows that sales teams are more productive when onsite."

Though Amazon did not explicitly name productivity as a reason for its full return to the office, CEO Andy Jassy emphasized a similar term: effectiveness.

Being back in person 5 days a week makes it "easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and, teams tend to be better connected to one another," he wrote at the time.

For those committing to a full return to office, preparing campuses for the influx of employees in the new year is its own challenge. Amazon has since delayed the announced January 2 effective date of the new mandate for some employees because it doesn't have enough office space in some locations, BI reported earlier this month.

As CEOs and company leaders keep an eye on how employees in remote or hybrid setups perform, various studies since the onset of the pandemic have attempted to measure and compare the productivity of employees who work at home and in-office. Research studies have produced conflicting results, further complicated by the matter of how best to define or measure productivity.

Goldman Sachs, which has a 5-day-in-office policy, reviewed several analyses that used different ways of evaluating changes in work-from-home productivity, from call-center workers who were randomly chosen to work from home to comparing the productivity of randomly assigned remote workers with their in-office peers.

In short, it's hard to say for sure, and executives are deciding what their long-term setup will be after a year in which some of the world's biggest companies put a renewed focus on being "lean" and "efficient."

Meanwhile, some employees have returned to commuting in (sometimes "coffee-badging" in and returning home), others have relocated to comply with a policy change, and some have resigned to pursue a hybrid or fully remote opportunity. As companies tighten their belts and conduct layoffs, other workers have taken to workplace forums to wonder if some of the RTO mandates have been a possible "quiet layoffs" tactic.

As more major global companies revisit their policies and make changes, CEOs are likely to face more questions on the topic going into the new year.

For some, the answer is simple: Stay productive and we'll stay flexible.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Tech legend Michael Dell says workers need to laugh and play — and parents' advice can be hit or miss

Michael Dell
Dell Technologies CEO and founder Michael Dell.

Getty Images

  • Michael Dell says humor is vital and workers need to laugh and play and relax sometimes.
  • The Dell Technologies chief said people shouldn't always listen to their parents' advice.
  • Dell said he goes to sleep early, works out around dawn, and enjoys Texas barbecue.

Laugh and play pranks, balance work with downtime, and don't always listen to your parents' advice, Michael Dell says.

The Dell Technologies founder and CEO shared the colorful life advice during a recent episode of the "In Good Company" podcast. Dell, 59, ranked 13th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a $115 billion fortune at Thursday's close.

The personal-computing pioneer said humor plays a key role at his company.

"If you can't laugh, joke around, play tricks on people, you're doing it wrong, right?" he said. "You have to be able to laugh at yourself."

Dell said he toiled tirelessly as a young man to build his company, which generated $88 billion of revenue last year. But he warned against overworking and burnout.

"I learned a long time ago that there's a diminishing return to the number of hours worked in any given day, " he said. "And if you're going to do something for a long time, you better find the [right mixture of] working and playing and relaxing."

Dell said he goes to bed at about 8:30 or 9 p.m. each night and wakes up around 4 or 5 a.m. to exercise.

"You won't find me at the nightcap," he said. "I'll be asleep."

Barbecue and bad advice

The Texan businessman also voiced his love for one of his home state's delicacies, even if he doesn't prepare it himself.

"I believe in the theory of labor specialization, so I personally am not cooking a lot of barbecue, but I'm definitely eating barbecue," he said.

Dell also offered some general advice for young people: "Experiment, take risks, fail, find difficult problems, do something valuable, don't be afraid, and, you know, be bold."

He recalled his parents encouraging him to become a doctor and urging him to set aside his passion for building computers. On the other hand, he remembered his mother telling him and his two brothers when they were little to "play nice but win," which became his company's guiding philosophy and the title of his 2021 book.

"Well, yeah, your parents aren't always right, but they're not always wrong either," he said, adding people's "mileage may vary on the parents."

Read the original article on Business Insider

Dell's AI business is booming, but shares plunged after it cut its revenue outlook

The Dell Technologies logo glowing
Dell's shares dropped after revenue came in lower than expected.

credit should read PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images

  • Dell reported $24.4 billion in revenue for its third quarter — a 10% year-on-year increase.
  • Revenues jumped 34% in Dell's ISG division, which includes the company's AI operations.
  • But a lower-than-expected fourth quarter outlook drove Dell's shares down 12% in premarket trading.

Dell reported third-quarter earnings on Tuesday that showed promising growth for its AI business, but forecast lower overall revenues than expected for the end of the year.

The company's third-quarter revenue rose 10% year over year to $24.4 billion but came in slightly under the $24.67 billion expected by analysts.

Earnings per share were up from $2.06 to $2.15.

The biggest success story came from Dell's Infrastructure Solutions Group, which includes sales of AI servers, storage, and other network capabilities.

ISG revenues reached a record-high $11.4 billion during the quarter, marking a 34% year-on-year increase. Within the division, server and networking revenue jumped 58% year over year to reach $7.4 billion.

"AI is a robust opportunity for us with no signs of slowing down," said Jeff Clarke, Dell's vice chairman and chief operating officer, in a press release.

"Interest in our portfolio is at an all-time high, driving record AI server orders demand of $3.6 billion in Q3 and a pipeline that grew more than 50%, with growth across all customer types."

Despite Dell's strong positioning in AI-related technologies, the company's shares were down as much as 12% in premarket trading after its final quarter revenue outlook fell below Wall Street expectations.

Analysts had forecast an outlook of $25.5 billion, but Dell put its fourth-quarter revenue expectations between $24 billion and $25 billion.

Results from Dell's client solutions group division also dampened the tech company's results.

CSG revenue, which includes computer and PC sales to consumers and enterprises, declined by 1% year over year, bringing in $12.1 billion in revenue. Commercial client revenue grew by 3%, but the consumer side of CSG fell 18% year over year in the third quarter.

Dell shares have risen 86% in 2024 as the Texas-based computer maker positions itself as a leading provider of the tools and servers used by AI developers.

The company has put AI at the forefront of its growth strategy and has partnered with Nvidia to build an AI factory for Elon Musk's xAI.

Dell shipped $2.9 billion in AI servers during the quarter, and the company said that customers had booked $3.6 billion of future AI server orders.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Elon Musk is worth nearly $500 billion after doubling his money this year. Meet the world's 10 biggest wealth gainers.

Mark Zuckerberg attending the UFC 300 event in Las Vegas; Elon Musk attending the annual Breakthrough Prize ceremony in Los Angeles.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk (right) and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg lead the list of biggest wealth gainers this year.

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images; Steve Granitz/FilmMagic via Getty Images

  • The world's 10 biggest wealth gainers have grown $790 billion richer in 2024.
  • Elon Musk leads the list with a $257 billion gain that has boosted his net worth to $486 billion.
  • Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Jensen Huang are all up more than $70 billion.

Ten people have grown their personal fortunes by a combined $790 billion this year — a figure larger than the market value of Walmart ($767 billion).

The biggest wealth gainers of 2024 include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The buzz around artificial intelligence, a solid outlook for the US economy, and market expectations about Donald Trump's second term in office have boosted their companies' stock prices, benefiting them as major shareholders.

Here are the 10 greatest wealth builders this year as of the market close on Tuesday, December 17.

1. Elon Musk
Elon Musk Feb 2024 Los Angeles
Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

Lisa O'Connor/AFP/Getty Images

Year-to-date wealth gain: $257 billion

Net worth: $486 billion

Source of wealth gain: Tesla and SpaceX stock

Elon Musk is the CEO of automaker Tesla and spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX. He's also the owner of X, the social network previously known as Twitter, along with Neuralink, xAI, and The Boring Company.

Musk's $257 billion wealth gain this year exceeds the total net worth of Jeff Bezos, the second-richest person on the planet. The serial entrepreneur could soon become the first individual to amass a $500 billion fortune.

2. Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg.

Getty Images

Year-to-date wealth gain: $90.9 billion

Net worth: $219 billion

Source of wealth gain: Meta stock

Mark Zuckerberg is the cofounder and CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.

Meta stock has soared 75% this year as investors wager Zuckerberg's big bets on AI and the metaverse will pay off in the years ahead. Zuckerberg has added about $90 billion to his net worth as a result, propelling him into third place on Bloomberg's rich list.

3. Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos.

Amy Harris/Invision/AP

Year-to-date wealth gain: $72.9 billion

Net worth: $250 billion

Source of wealth gain: Amazon stock

Jeff Bezos is Amazon's founder, executive chairman, and former CEO.

Amazon shares have leaped 52% this year as investors bet the online retailer can harness AI to supercharge its sales and leverage Amazon Web Services to become a key provider of cloud infrastructure to AI companies.

4. Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison, a billionaire cofounder of Oracle.
Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle.

Phillip Faraone/Getty Images

Year-to-date wealth gain: $70.4 billion

Net worth: $193 billion

Source of wealth gain: Oracle and Tesla stock

Larry Ellison is the cofounder, executive chairman, and chief technology officer of Oracle, one of the largest enterprise software companies.

Oracle stock has jumped 61% this year as the company has emerged as a key provider of cloud data centers for AI businesses, fueling a $70 billion increase in Ellison's net worth.

Ellison purchased more than 1.5% of Tesla prior to joining its board in December 2018, making him the electric-vehicle maker's second-largest individual shareholder after Musk. He's believed to have retained his stake, now worth upward of $20 billion, since resigning as a director in 2022.

5. Jensen Huang
Jensen Huang speaking on stage

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Year-to-date wealth gain: $70 billion

Net worth: $114 billion

Source of wealth gain: Nvidia stock

Jensen Huang is the founder and CEO of Nvidia, the graphics chip maker that has emerged as a critical seller of "picks and shovels" to the AI gold rush.

Nvidia's stock has surged 163% this year, making it one of the world's most valuable companies with a $3.2 trillion market value and lifting Huang's net worth by $70 billion.

6. Michael Dell
Michael Dell

John Locher/AP

Year-to-date wealth gain: $48.9 billion

Net worth: $127 billion

Source of wealth gain: Dell Technologies stock

Michael Dell is the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, the maker of PCs, printers, and other computing equipment.

Dell shares have soared 55% this year as the company has shifted its focus toward AI-powered devices and servers.

7. Larry Page
Larry Page speaks during the Fortune Global Forum at the Legion Of Honor on November 2, 2015 in San Francisco, California.
Larry Page.

Kimberly White/Getty Images for Fortune

Year-to-date wealth gain: $47.4 billion

Net worth: $174 billion

Source of wealth gain: Alphabet stock

Larry Page cofounded Google in 1998 and was the company's CEO until 2001 and again between 2011 and 2015 after Google was restructured as a subsidiary of Alphabet.

Alphabet shares have surged 40% this year as investors wager the search-and-advertising titan can dominate AI. The stock jump has fueled a $47 billion rise in Page's net worth.

8. Jim Walton
Jim Walton, Alice Walton, and Rob Walton cheering in a crowd.
Jim Walton, Alice Walton, and Rob Walton cheer at the annual shareholders meeting for Walmart in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Year-to-date wealth gain: $45.1 billion

Net worth: $118 billion

Source of wealth gain: Walmart stock

Jim Walton is the youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton and, like his siblings, one of the retailer's largest shareholders with an 11%-plus stake.

Walmart stock has climbed 82% this year, fueled by resilient consumer spending in the face of historic inflation and soaring interest rates in recent years. The surge led to Walton amassing a $100 billion fortune for the first time in September.

9. Alice Walton
Alice Walton
Alice Walton is one of the heirs to the Walmart fortune.

Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images

Year-to-date wealth gain: $44.4 billion

Net worth: $114 billion

Source of wealth gain: Walmart stock

Alice Walton is the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton.

She overtook L'Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers in August to become the world's richest woman.

10. Rob Walton
Rob Walton on stage

Rick T. Wilking/Getty Images

Year-to-date wealth gain: $43.8 billion

Net worth: $115 billion

Source of wealth gain: Walmart stock

Rob Walton is the eldest son of Sam Walton and an heir to the Walmart fortune.

He and his siblings owe a big chunk of their wealth to their father, who handed them each a 20% stake in the family business over 70 years ago instead of having them inherit his fortune upon his death, in turn avoiding paying billions of dollars in estate taxes.

Read the original article on Business Insider

The full list of major US companies slashing staff this year, including Meta, ExxonMobil, and Boeing

A Cargill meat processing plant in Arkansas.
Cargill is cutting 5% of its workforce.

Spencer Tirey/Getty Images

  • Last year's job cuts weren't the end of layoffs. Further reductions continue in 2024.
  • Companies like Flagstar Bank, Meta, PwC, Tesla, Google, Microsoft, and Nike have all announced cuts.
  • See the list of companies reducing their worker numbers in 2024.

After a brutal year of layoffs in 2023, companies this year have continued to cut jobs across tech, media, finance, manufacturing, and retail.

Tech titans like Meta, IBM, Google, and Microsoft; finance leaders like Goldman Sachs, Citi, and BlackRock; accounting firms like PwC; entertainment behemoths like Pixar and Paramount; and corporate giants like Tesla, Dow, and Nike have all announced layoffs.

A survey in late December said nearly 40% of business leaders had expected layoffs this year, ResumeBuilder said. ResumeBuilder talked to about 900 leaders at organizations with more than 10 employees.

One major factor survey respondents cited was artificial intelligence. Around four in 10 leaders said they would conduct layoffs as they replace workers with AI. Last year, Dropbox, Google, and IBM announced job cuts related to AI.

Here are the dozens of companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2024.

The US' biggest privately-owned company, Cargill, is cutting thousands of jobs
A Cargill meat processing plant in Arkansas.
Cargill is cutting 5% of its workforce.

Spencer Tirey/Getty Images

Cargill, the largest privately owned company in the US, is slashing 5% of its workforce.

The company, which is the world's largest agricultural commodities trader, will lay off thousands of workers from its 164,000-strong workforce, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing an internal memo it had seen.

"To strengthen Cargill's impact, we must realign our talent and resources to align with our strategy," a Cargill spokesperson told BI.

The cuts would impact workers across all professional levels from countries in Asia, Latin America, North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

The layoffs will not touch its executive team but will impact its "next level senior leaders," Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

"The majority of these reductions will take place this year," Chief Executive Officer Brian Sikes said in the memo, seen by Bloomberg. "They'll focus on streamlining our organizational structure by removing layers, expanding the scope and responsibilities of our managers, and reducing duplication of work."

Microchip Tech is closing an Arizona factory
Semiconductor microchip stock image
Microchip Technology is closing a factory in Arizona, which is expected to cut around 500 jobs.

iStock/Getty Images Plus

Microchip Technology, a chipmaker for a variety of consumer products, on Monday said it was closing a facility in Tempe, Arizona, as it deals with slower-than-anticipated orders.

The closure is expected to affect about 500 jobs from the company's total of 22,300, Microchip said. The closure will progress in stages and end in September 2025.

"While the company has taken steps to right size inventory and reduce expenses— including temporary pay reductions and company-wide and factory shutdowns—these measures have not been enough," a spokesperson for Microchip said in a statement on Tuesday.

Microchip also updated its revenue guidance for the quarter ending in December quarter to $1.025 billion, which is at the lower end of its earlier forecast.

The company's stock fell about 3% in after-hours trading and is down 22% year-to-date.

Publishing giant Hearst Magazines trims staff.
Hearst Tower
Hearst Tower

Rob Kim/Getty Images

The owner of publications including Esquire and Cosmopolitan is conducting a round of layoffs, The Hollywood Reporter said in a November 21 report.

The exact number of positions impacted is not clear.

"After a thorough review of our business, we've decided to reallocate resources to better support our goals and continue our focus on digital innovation while strengthening our best in class print products," Hearst Magazines president Debi Chirichella told staff in a memo obtained by THR. "We will scale back in areas that do not support our core strategy and will eliminate certain positions as we reimagine our team structures to drive long-term growth."

Boeing starts issuing layoff notices to 400 workers amid plans for 10% global cut
A Boeing facility.
Boeing is cutting 10% of its global workforce.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

In October, Boeing said that it would cut 10% of its 170,000-strong global workforce. The reduction plan will include 2,199 employees in Washington and another 50 in Oregon, according to the company's filings.

As part of the cuts, Boeing is laying off more than 400 workers who are part of its professional aerospace labor union. The Seattle Times reported that 438 members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) received pink slips.

These included engineers, scientists, analysts, technicians, and other jobs, the outlet reported.

In a note to employees on October 11, CEO Kelly Ortberg said Boeing was in a "difficult position" and that "restoring our company requires tough decisions."

The layoffs come at a difficult time for Boeing. Its share price has fallen more than 40% since the start of the year as it grapples with the fallout from a seven-week strike and technical faults like a door plug coming off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max midflight in January.

Representatives of Boeing and the SPEEA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Exxon is cutting nearly 400 jobs after Pioneer merger
A sign that reads "Exxon" in red letters.
Exxon Mobil is cutting about 400 employees after Pioneer merger.

Andrew Kelly/Reuters

ExxonMobil is cutting about 400 employees from Pioneer Natural Resources, the oil and gas company it acquired earlier this year.

The cuts will come in seven stages and will be completed in May 2026, Exxon said in a notice to the Texas Workforce Commission.

The cuts represent almost 20% of Pioneer's pre-merger workforce and will mostly affect employees in Pioneer's suburban Dallas offices, the notice said.

AMD is laying off roughly 4% of its workforce.
AMD logo
AMD is reportedly cutting roughly 4% of its global workforce, or around 1,000 employees.

Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

AMD confirmed it would be reducing its global staff, which numbered around 26,000 total employees as of December 2023.

As a part of aligning our resources with our largest growth opportunities, we are taking a number of targeted steps that will unfortunately result in reducing our global workforce by approximately 4%," an AMD representative said in a statement to Business Insider. "We are committed to treating impacted employees with respect and helping them through this transition."

The cuts are reportedly targeting sales and marketing roles in areas like consumer PC and gaming PC, according to Bloomberg.

The computer chipmaker is focusing efforts on the artificial intelligence industry as it chases rival Nvidia in the GPU market. In October, AMD raised its 2024 GPU sales estimates from its initial $4.5 billion to over $5 billion.

Chegg is cutting 21% of its employees as AI search destroys its business
Chegg logo on orange background
Chegg is letting go of 21% of its staff amid competition from ChatGPT and other AI searchers.

Pavlo Gonchar via Getty Images

Online education site Chegg is laying off staff for the second time this year as generative AI platforms obliterate its business model.

Chegg said it is cutting 319 employees, or 21% of its staff, as it faces strong competition from platforms like ChatGPT. The company slashed global headcount by 23% in June.

"The speed and scale of Google's AIO rollout and student adoption of generative AI products have negatively impacted our industry and our business," Nathan Schultz, Chegg's CEO, said in an earnings release. The company reported a loss of $212.6 million for the third quarter.

Chegg's stock has fallen nearly 85% since the start of this year.

23andMe is cutting 40% of its staff
23andMe sign on a building
23andMe is cutting 40% of its staff and exiting its therapeautics business.

Smith Collection/Gado

Genetic testing company 23andMe is cutting 200 employees, or 40% of its workforce, to reduce costs and refocus its business.

The Bay Area-based company is also discontinuing further development of all its therapeutics programs, it said in a mid-November statement.

Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe's CEO and cofounder, has been trying to take the struggling company private since April.

23andMe debuted on the stock market in 2021 but fallen from its peak valuation of $6 billion — its market cap is now north of $100 million. Financial and strategic missteps, as well as high-profile user data hacks, have dragged the company down.

Beyond Inc. plans to cut 20% of its workforce
Bed, Bath & Beyond logo
Beyond Inc., the parent company of Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock, and Zulily, is the latest to announce layoffs.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

The parent company of Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock, Zulily, and other brands revealed its decision to slash a fifth of its staff in an October SEC filing.

The workplace reduction was taken to create a more "variable, leverageable cost structure" and to help align the company with its "asset-light business that supports an affinity and data monetization model with a strong technology focus," Beyond Inc. said in the filing.

The cuts are estimated to save roughly $20 million annually in fixed costs and are expected to be "substantially implemented" in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The news came shortly after Beyond Inc. and Kirkland announced a partnership that means physical Bed Bath & Beyond stores will return in smaller-format "neighborhood" locations.

Meta added to the 20,000+ people it's laid off since 2022
Meta logo on banner
The newest cuts affect employees at units including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs.

Chesnot/Getty

Meta is eliminating some roles on units including Instagram, WhatsApp, and its VR and AR division Reality Labs.

"A few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy," a Meta spokesperson told BI on October 17. "This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles."

It's unclear how many roles will be affected, but Meta has trimmed its staff significantly in the year and a half, with more than 20,000 job cuts since 2022. CEO Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed 2023 a "year of efficiency" at the company, and continued cost-cutting measures this year as the tech giant gets flatter in structure.

TikTok is laying off employees as part of content moderation changes.
TikTok logo
Tiktok is cutting employees in its content-moderation arm.

Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

TikTok is cutting employees in various locations as part of changes to its content-moderation strategy.

A spokesperson for the China-owned company told Reuters in October that 80% of content that violates its policy is now removed through automated technology.

The company did not provide details on the exact number of positions that it eliminated but told Reuters the cuts would affect "several hundred" employees.

PwC is cutting 1,800 employees.
PwC
PwC is laying off about 2.5% of its staff.

Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images

Big Four accounting firm PwC is cutting 1,800 workers, which is about 2.5% of its staff. The cuts will impact staffers ranging from associates to managing directors — half of them offshore. Those affected by the cuts will be informed in October.

In an emailed statement to Business Insider, Tim Grady, PwC's US chief operating officer, said, "To remain competitive and position our business for the future, we are continuing to transform
areas of our firm and are aligning our workforce to better support our strategy, including attracting and moving the right talent and skill sets to the areas where we need them most. Right now, we are focused on running our business well and adapting to meet the needs of our clients and the rapidly changing market."

Nike's up-to-$2 billion cost-cutting plan will involve severances
Nike Customers walk past a Nike store in Shanghai, China
Athletic retailer Nike will be making reductions to staffing as part of a cost-cutting initiative.

CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Nike announced its cost-cutting plans in a December 2023 earnings call, discussing a slow growth in sales. The call subsequently resulted in Nike's stock plunging.

"We are seeing indications of more cautious consumer behavior around the world," Nike Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said in December.

Google laid off hundreds more workers in 2024
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Google confirmed the layoffs to Business Insider in an email.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

On January 10, Google laid off hundreds of workers in its central engineering division and members of its hardware teams — including those working on its voice-activated assistant.

In an email to some affected employees, the company encouraged them to consider applying for open positions at Google if they want to remain employed. April 9 was the last day for those unable to secure a new position, the email said.

The tech giant laid off thousands throughout 2023, beginning with a 6% reduction of its global workforce — about 12,000 people — last January.

Discord laid off 170 employees.
Discord logo displayed on a phone screen and Discord website displayed on a screen in the background are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on November 5, 2022.
Jason Citron said rapid growth was to blame for the cuts.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Discord employees learned about the layoffs in an all-hands meeting and a memo sent by CEO Jason Citron in early January.

"We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020," Citron said in the memo. "As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated."

In August 2023, Discord reduced its headcount by 4%. According to CNBC, the company was valued at $15 billion in 2021.

Citi will cut 20,000 from its staff as part of its corporate overhaul.
jane fraser milken institute panel
CEO Jane Fraser has been vocal about the necessity for restructuring at Citigroup.

Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images

The layoffs announced in January are part of a larger Citigroup initiative to restructure the business and could leave the company with a remaining head count of 180,000 — excluding its Mexico operations.

In an earnings call that month, the bank said that layoffs could save the company up to $2.5 billion after it suffered a "very disappointing" final quarter last year.

Amazon-owned Twitch also announced job cuts.
Twitch is walking back its policy allowing for "artistic nudity" after just two days.
Twitch is cutting more than 500 positions.

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Twitch announced on January 10 that it would cut 500 jobs, affecting over a third of the employees at the live-streaming company.

CEO Dan Clancy announced the layoffs in a memo, telling staff that while the company has tried to cut costs, the operation is "meaningfully" bigger than necessary.

"As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible," Clancy wrote. "Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch."

BlackRock is planning to cut 3% of its staff.
BlackRock logo
BlackRock expects to lay off 3% of its workforce.

Leonardo Munoz/VIEWpress

Larry Fink, BlackRock's chief executive, and Rob Kapito, the firm's president, announced in January that the layoffs would affect around 600 people from its workforce of about 20,000.

However, the company has plans to expand in other areas to support growth in its overseas markets.

"As we prepare for 2024 and this very exciting but distinctly different landscape, businesses across the firm have developed plans to reallocate resources," the company leaders said in a memo.

Rent the Runway is slashing 10% of its corporate jobs as part of a restructuring.
Woman walks out the door of Rent the Runway store
Rent the Runway is laying off a few dozen people in its corporate workforce.

Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

In the fashion company's January announcement, COO and president Anushka Salinas said she will also be leaving the firm, Fast Company reported.

Unity Software is eliminating 25% of its workforce.
Sutro combines the best of Unity, Figma, Retool, and GPT-3
Unity Software plans to cut roughly 1,800 jobs.

Sutro Software

Around 1,800 jobs at the video game software company will be affected by the layoffs announced, Reuters reported in January.

eBay cut 1,000 jobs
eBay logo sign outside its office
eBay wants to become "more nimble."

ullstein bild Dtl/ Getty

In a January 23 memo, CEO Jamie Iannone told employees that the eBay layoffs will affect about 9% of the company's workforce.

Iannone told employees that layoffs were necessary as the company's "overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business."

The company also plans to scale back on contractors.

Microsoft is reportedly cutting 650 more jobs from its Xbox division
Xbox logo on phone with Microsoft logo in the background
Microsoft is reportedly laying off hundreds of employees in Xbox division

SOPA Images/Getty Images

Microsoft will be laying off hundreds of employees in its Xbox gaming division, Bloomberg first reported in September.

The job cuts will mainly affect workers in corporate and support functions, the outlet reported, citing a memo sent by Microsoft Gaming chief Phil Spencer.

However, he reportedly added that the company is not planning to close any studios or remove any games or devices.

This comes after the company also slashed 1,900 workers at Activision, Xbox, and ZeniMax in late January.

Nearly three months after Microsoft acquired video game firm Activision Blizzard, the company announced layoffs in its gaming divisions. The layoffs mostly affect employees at Activision Blizzard.

Xbox in May also reportedly offered some employees voluntary severance packages after shutting three units and absorbing a fourth earlier in the month.

Salesforce is cutting 700 employees across the company, The Wall Street Journal reported
Salesforce Tower in New York.
Salesforce laid off about a tenth of its headcount last year.

Plexi Images/Glasshouse Images/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Salesforce announced a round of layoffs that the company says will affect 1% of its global workforce, The Journal reported in late January.

The cuts followed a wave of cuts at the cloud giant last year. In 2023, Marc Benioff's company laid off about 10% of its total workforce — or roughly 7,000 jobs. The CEO said the company over-hired during the pandemic.

iRobot is laying off around 350 employees and founder Colin Angle will step down as chairman and CEO
iRobot co-founder Colin Angle
iRobot's executive vice president and chief legal officer Glen Weinstein has been appointed interim CEO upon Angle's exit from the company.

Kimberly White/Getty Images

The company behind the Roomba Vacuum announced layoffs in late January around the same time Amazon decided not to go through with its proposed acquisition of the company, the Associated Press reported.

UPS will cut 12,000 jobs in 2024.
UPS Driver in truck
UPS CEO Carol Tomé told investors that the company will reduce its headcount by 12,000 by the end of 2024.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The UPS layoffs will affect 14% of the company's 85,000 managers and could save the company $1 billion in 2024, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said during a January earnings call.

Paypal CEO Alex Chriss announced the company would lay off 9% of its workforce.
PayPal
PayPal announced layoffs at the end of January.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Announced in late January, this round of layoffs will affect about 2,500 employees at the payment processing company.

"We are doing this to right-size our business, allowing us to move with the speed needed to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth," CEO Alex Chriss wrote in a January memo. "At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth."

Okta is cutting roughly 7% of its workforce.
Okta logo displayed on a phone with bright lights in the background
Okta announced a restructuring plan at the start of February.

SOPA Images/ Getty

The digital-access-management company announced its plans for a "restructuring plan intended to improve operating efficiencies and strengthen the Company's commitment to profitable growth" in an SEC filing in February.

The cuts will impact roughly 400 employees.

Okta CEO Todd McKinnon told staff in a memo that "costs are still too high," CNBC reported.

Snap has announced more layoffs.
Snapchat logo and dollar signs in front of a purple background
Snap has announced another round of job cuts.

Snapchat, Tyler Le/Insider

The company behind Snapchat announced in February that it's reducing its global workforce by 10%, according to an SEC filing.

Estée Lauder said it will eliminate up to 3,100 positions.
Estee Lauder display
Between 1,600 and 3,100 jobs will be eliminated from the company.

Reuters

The cosmetics company announced in February that it would be cutting 3% to 5% of its roles as part of a restructuring plan.

Estee Lauder reportedly employed about 62,000 employees around the world as of June 30, 2023.

DocuSign is eliminating roughly 6% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan.
docusign
The electronic signature company is cutting 6% of its workforce.

Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

The electronic signature company said in an SEC filing in February that most of the cuts will be in its sales and marketing divisions.

Zoom is slashing 150 jobs
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan
Videoconferencing company Zoom laid off 1,300 people in February 2023. The following February it announced 150 layoffs.

Kena Betancur

Zoom announced 150 job losses in February, which amounted to about 2% of its workforce. It had announced it was laying off 1,300 people the previous February.

Paramount Global is laying off 800 employees days after record-breaking Super Bowl
Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish
CEO Bob Bakish sent a note informing employees of layoffs.

Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP

In February, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish sent a memo to employees announcing that 800 jobs — about 3% of its workforce — were being cut.

Deadline obtained the memo less than a month after reporting plans for layoffs at Paramount. The announcement comes on the heels of Super Bowl LVIII reaching record-high viewership across CBS, Paramount+, and Nickelodeon, and Univision.

Morgan Stanley is trimming its wealth management division by hundreds of staffers
morgan stanley phone logo chart
The layoffs mark one of the first major moves by newly-installed CEO Ted Pick.

Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Morgan Stanley is laying off several hundred employees in its wealth-management division, the Wall Street Journal reported in February, representing roughly 1% of the team.

The wealth-management division has seen some slowdown at the start of 2024, with net new assets down by about 8% from a year ago. The layoffs mark the first major move by newly-installed CEO Ted Pick, who took the reins from James Gorman on January 1.

Expedia Group is cutting more than 8% of its workforce
expedia group ceo peter kern stands in front of a large screen that says unprecedented reach with a man throwing a child in the air
Peter Kern, CEO of Expedia Group

Business Wire

An Expedia spokesperson told BI that it was implementing cutbacks, as part of an operational review, that were expected to impact 1,500 roles this year.

The company's product and technology division is set to be the worst hit, a report from GeekWire said, citing an internal memo CEO Peter Kern sent to employees in late February.

"While this review will result in the elimination of some roles, it also allows the company to invest in core strategic areas for growth," the spokesperson said.

"Consultation with local employee representatives, where applicable, will occur before making any final decisions," they added.

Sony is laying off 900 workers
A corner of a PlayStation 5
The tech company is slashing 900 workers from its workforce.

NurPhoto/Getty Images

The cuts at Sony Interactive Entertainment swept through its game-making teams at PlayStation Studios.

Insomniac Games, which developed the hit Spider-Man video game series, as well as Naughty Dog, the developers behind Sony's flagship 'The Last of Us' video games' were hit by the cuts, the company announced on February 27.

All of PlayStation's London studio will be shuttered, according to the proposal.

"Delivering and sustaining social, online experiences – allowing PlayStation gamers to explore our worlds in different ways – as well as launching games on additional devices such as PC and Mobile, requires a different approach and different resources," PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst wrote.

Hulst added that some games in development will be shut down, though he didn't say which ones.

In early February, Sony said it missed its target for selling PlayStation 5 consoles. The earnings report sent shares tumbling and the company's stock lost about $10 billion in value.

Bumble slashed 30% of its workforce
new bumble CEO Lidiane Jones
Lidiane Jones, CEO of Bumble.

Eugene Gologursky/Stringer/Gr

On February 27, the dating app company announced that it would be reducing its staff due to "future strategic priorities" for its business, per a statement.

The cuts will impact about 30% of its about 1,200 person workforce or about 350 roles, a representative for Bumble told BI by email.

"We are taking significant and decisive actions that ensure our customers remain at the center of everything we do as we relaunch Bumble App, transform our organization and accelerate our product roadmap," Bumble Inc CEO Lidiane Jones said in a statement.

Electronic Arts reduced its workforce by 5%
Electronic Arts  logo displayed on a phone screen
Electronic Arts is cutting hundreds of jobs.

Getty Images

Electronic Arts is laying off about 670 workers, equating to 5% of its workforce, Bloomberg reported in late February.

The gaming firm axed two mobile games earlier in February, which it described as a difficult decision in a statement issued to GamesIndustry.biz.

CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly told employees in a memo that it would be "moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry."

Wilson also said in the memo that the cuts came as a result of shifting customer needs and a refocusing of the company, Bloomberg reported.

IBM cut staff in marketing and communications
Arvind Krishna, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IBM addresses the gathering on the first day of the three-day B20 Summit in New Delhi on August 25, 2023
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said last year that he could easily see 30% of the company's staff getting replaced by AI and automation over the coming five years.

Sajjad Hussain/Getty Images

IBM's chief communications officer Jonathan Adashek told employees on March 12 that it would be cutting staff, CNBC reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

An IBM spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement that the cuts follow a broader workforce action the company announced during its earnings call in January.

"In 4Q earnings earlier this year, IBM disclosed a workforce rebalancing charge that would represent a very low single-digit percentage of IBM's global workforce, and we expect to exit 2024 at roughly the same level of employment as we entered with," they said.

IBM has also been clear about the impact of AI on its workforce. In May 2023, IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna said the company expected to pause hiring on roles that could be replaced by AI, especially in areas like human resources and other non-consumer-facing departments.

"I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period," Krishna told Bloomberg at the time.

Amazon is laying off hundreds in its cloud division in yet another round of cuts this year
amazon logo in a building lobby
The cuts follow several rounds of layoffs at Amazon last year.

Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs from its cloud division known as Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg reported on April 3.

The reduction will impact employees on the sales and marketing team and those working on tech for its retail stores, Bloomberg reported.

"We've identified a few targeted areas of the organization we need to streamline in order to continue focusing our efforts on the key strategic areas that we believe will deliver maximum impact," an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg.

On March 26, Amazon announced another round of job cuts after the company said it was slashing 'several hundred' jobs at its Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions earlier this year to refocus on more profitable products.

"We've identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact," Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, told employees in January.

This year's cuts follow the largest staff layoff in the company's history. In 2023, the tech giant laid off 18,000 workers.

Apple has cut over 700 employees across its self-driving car, displays, and services groups
Tim Cook
The cuts follow Apple's decision to withdraw from two major projects.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Apple slashed its California workforce by more than 600 employees in April.

The cuts came after Apple decided to withdraw from its car and smartwatch display projects.

The tech giant filed a series of notices to comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification program. One of the addresses was linked to a new display development office, while the others were for the company's EV effort, Bloomberg reported.

Apple officially shut down its decadelong EV project in February. At the time, Bloomberg reported that some employees would move to generative AI, but others would be laid off.

Bloomberg noted that the layoffs were likely an undercount of the full scope of staff cuts, as Apple had staff working on these projects in other locations.

In late August, Bloomberg reported that Apple was slashing 100 jobs in its services group, citing people familiar with the matter.

The layoffs mainly involved people working on the Apple Books app and the Apple Bookstore, Bloomberg reported. Cuts were also made to other service teams like Apple News, the outlet added.

Representatives for Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside normal business hours.

Tesla laid off over 10% of its workforce
A red Tesla outside a Tesla showroom.
Impacted employees were notified that they were being terminated, effective immediately.

JOHN THYS / Getty

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a memo to employees on April 14, at nearly midnight in California, informing them of the company's plan to cut over 10% of its global workforce.

In his companywide memo, Musk cited "duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas" as the reason behind the reductions.

An email sent to terminated employees, obtained by BI, read: "Effective now, you will not need to perform any further work and therefore will no longer have access to Tesla systems and physical locations."

On April 29, Musk reportedly sent an email stating the need for more layoffs at Tesla. He also announced the departure of two executives and said that their reports would also be let go. Six known Tesla executives have left the company since layoffs began in April.

Grand Theft Auto 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive is reducing its workforce by 5%
Take-Two Interactive logo next to GTA6 banner
Take-Two Interactive is slated to cut around 600 roles this year.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, said on April 16 that it would be "eliminating several projects" and reducing its workforce by about 5%.

The move — a part of its larger "cost reduction program" — will cost the video game publisher up to $200 million. It's expected to be completed by December 31.

As of March 2023, the company said it employed approximately 11,580 full-time workers.

Peloton announced it was reducing its staff by 15% as the CEO stepped down
Barry McCarthy
Barry McCarthy served as the CEO of Peloton for just over two years.

Getty/Ilya S. Savenok

Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy is stepping down, the company announced May 2. Along with his departure, the fitness company is also laying off about 400 workers.

McCarthy is leaving his role just two years after replacing John Foley as CEO and president in 2022. Peloton said the changes are expected to reduce annual expenses by over $200 million by the end of fiscal 2025 as part of a larger restructuring plan.

Indeed is cutting 1,000 workers after laying off 2,200 in 2023
Indeed
Indeed draws more than 250 million people from around the world each month, making it the largest job site.

SOPA Images / Getty Images

Careers site Indeed says it will lay off roughly 1,000 employees, or 8% of its workforce, as it looks to simplify its organization.

CEO Chris Hyams took responsibility for "how we got here" in a memo in May but said the company is not yet set up for growth after last year's global hiring slowdown caused multiple quarters of declining sales.

Hyams said the latest cuts will be more concentrated in the US and primarily affect R&D and Go-to-Market teams. It comes after last year's across-the-board reduction of 2,200 workers.

Walmart is axing hundreds of corporate jobs
Walmart storefront
A Walmart storefront in the US.

Kena Betancur/VIEWpress via Getty Images

Retail giant Walmart is cutting hundreds of corporate jobs and asking remote employees to come to work, The Wall Street Journal reported in May, citing people familiar with the matter.

Workers in smaller offices, such as those in Dallas, Atlanta, and Toronto, are also being asked to move to central locations like Walmart's corporate headquarters in Arkansas or those in New Jersey or California, the Journal reported.

Under Armour is slashing an unspecified number of jobs, incurring $22 million in severance costs
Under Armour
An Under Armour retail store.

Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Under Armour confirmed it was conducting layoffs in its quarterly earnings report, which was released May 16.

The company said it will pay out employee severance and benefits expenses of roughly $15 million in cash-related and $7 million in non-cash charges this year related to a restructuring plan, with close to half of that occurring in the current fiscal quarter.

"This is not where I envisaged Under Armour playing at this point in our journey," CEO Kevin Plank told investors on the company's full-year earnings call. "That said, we'll use this turbulence to reconstitute our brand and business, giving athletes, retail customers and shareholders bigger and better reasons to care about and believe in Under Armour's potential."

Pixar cuts about 175 people in pivot back to feature films
Inside Out 2. Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale) and Disgust (Liza Lapira) react to a new emotion in Riley's head called Anxiety (Maya Hawke).
"Inside Out," a 2015 film, is one of Pixar's many hits.

Disney/Pixar

Disney's Pixar Animation Studios is cutting 175 people, about 14% of its staff, Reuters reported.

The cuts started on May 21 as the studio returns to its focus on feature-length movies. Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who was axed in 2022, had increased staff across studios to create more content for the company's streaming service, Disney+.

Pixar cut 75 jobs last year, Reuters previously reported, part of a larger restructuring across Disney.

Lucid Motors is slashing around 400 jobs
A Lucid Air car on display.
Lucid Motors will cut about 6% of its workforce.

John Keeble/Getty Images

In a regulatory filing, Lucid Motors said it would lay off about 400 employees as part of a restructuring plan that should be complete by the end of the third quarter.

"I'm confident Lucid will deliver the world's best SUV and dramatically expand our total addressable market, but we aren't generating revenue from the program yet," CEO Peter Rawlinson said in an email to employees obtained by TechCrunch.

The cuts come ahead of Lucid's launch of its first electric SUV later this year. It comes over a year after the California-based company laid off 1,300 employees, TechCrunch previously reported.

John Deere is laying off over 600 employees
line of green john deere tractors in a dirt lot with snow capped mountains in the background
John Deere tractors for sale at a dealer in Longmont, Colorado.

Rick Wilking/Reuters

John Deere, maker of the iconic green-and-yellow tractors, is laying off over 600 employees at factories in Illinois and Iowa, the AP reported July 1.

In May, John Deere said sales fell for the third consecutive quarter and projected that the declines would continue in the second half of its fiscal year.

Burberry is expected to cut 100s of jobs
Burberry
Burberry is reportedly cutting hundreds of roles.

Anton Novoderezhkin\TASS via Getty Images

London-based luxury retailer Burberry is expected to cut hundreds of jobs in the coming weeks, the Telegraph reported July 6.

Employees learned about the cuts in late June when they were told in a Zoom meeting that their roles could be eliminated or that they would need to apply for other jobs, according to the Telegraph.

Intuit announced cuts on July 10
Intuit logo
Intuit announced it would fire 1,800 employees as the company shifts focus to AI development.

Chris Helgren/Reuters

Intuit announced on July 10 that it's cutting its workforce by 10%. The layoffs will affect 1,800 employees nationwide, but the company plans to hire 1,800 new employees in "key areas" like engineering, InvestorPlace reports.

The refocus on other areas is following a shift in focus on AI within the company, according to the outlet.

Intuit's stock dropped by 4.01% on July 10 after the company announced the layoffs.

Tinder parent Match group plans to cut 6% of jobs
Tinder app
Tinder and Hinge parent company is cutting about 156 jobs globally.

Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Match Group, the parent company of Tinder and Hinge, said on July 30 that it would reduce its global workforce by about 6%, or about 156 employees because it is exiting the livestreaming business.

Match said it would remove the livestreaming service from its app Plenty of Fish and sunset the Hakuna app, which focuses on Korea and Japan.

The reduction in workforce is expected to save the company $13 million in annual costs.

Disney cuts 140 jobs across its TV division
Disney+
Disney Entertainment Television (DET) is eliminating roughly 2% of its workforce.

SOPA Images/Getty Images

Deadline and Bloomberg reported in July that Disney was making cuts across its TV division, to the tune of roughly 140 jobs — or 2% of the staff at Disney Entertainment Television (DET).

Layoffs will impact National Geographic, owned television stations, the marketing and publicity departments, and Freeform, per a source close to the matter, which notes no teams have been eliminated.

While Disney's cable TV business generates billions, it's on the decline, Bloomberg reports, and the company is seeking to cut costs.

Last year, Disney slashed 7,000 jobs across multiple rounds of layoffs as part of a strategy implemented by returning CEO Bob Iger.

Intel plans to eliminate thousands of jobs
Life-size Intel logo.
Intel expected to eliminate thousands of jobs, Bloomberg reported.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Intel plans to cut thousands of jobs in response to a second-quarter earnings slump, Bloomberg reported earlier this week, citing unnamed people familiar with the move.

It was officially announced on August 1, as it posted Q2 earnings. The company intends to reduce its workforce by 15% by the end of 2024.

"Our Q2 financial performance was disappointing, even as we hit key product and process technology milestones," Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a statement. "Second-half trends are more challenging than we previously expected, and we are leveraging our new operating model to take decisive actions that will improve operating and capital efficiencies while accelerating our IDM 2.0 transformation."

Intel's stock was down following the lackluster earnings.

The layoffs come after the chip maker laid off about 5% of its workforce last year, bringing its head count down to around 124,000, Bloomberg reported.

During the last round of layoffs, announced in October 2022, Intel faced a drop in demand for processors for personal computers and estimated the layoffs would save $10 billion in costs by 2025, per Bloomberg.

Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WW International is cutting jobs in corporate
WeightWatchers logo in a storefront.
WeightWatchers is cutting down its staff.

Eugene Gologursky

Diet program creator WW International, formerly WeightWatchers, plans to lay off employees, it said in an earnings call on August 1.

The company did not specify the number of jobs it will cut. But the layoffs will largely focus on corporate positions, including a 40% cut in roles above and at the vice president level.

The cuts are expected to save the company $60 million, the company's chief financial officer said.

Dell is cutting sales jobs in new focus on AI products
The exterior of a Dell Technologies office building is seen on January 04, 2023 in Round Rock, Texas.
A Dell Technologies office building in Round Rock, Texas.

Brandon Bell/Getty

Dell is cutting jobs on its sales team, Bloomberg reported. It wasn't immediately clear how many jobs Dell planned to eliminate.

In a memo announcing the cuts, company executives said that the choice was part of a restructuring to focus more on selling AI products and data center services, Bloomberg reported.

Dell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI, but a spokesman told Bloomberg: "Through a reorganization of our go-to-market teams and an ongoing series of actions, we are becoming a leaner company."

Paramount Global announced it plans to slash 15% of its US workforce
Paramount on building
Paramount Global plans to cut 15% of its US workforce.

PATRICK T. FALLON/Getty Images

Paramount Global is planning to cut about 2,000 jobs ahead of its merger with Skydance Media, CNBC reported.

The company identified $500 million in cost savings as it prepared to join forces with Skydance, totalling about 15% of its US workforce, according to the outlet.

The cuts will begin in a few weeks and will mostly be finished by the end of 2024. Paramount employees in marketing and communications, finance, legal, technology, and other support functions have been targeted, the company said on an earnings call.

The cuts come about a month after Paramount agreed to merge with Skydance. Paramount shares jumped more than 5% after hours.

Stellantis is slashing white-collar and factory jobs
The logo of Stellantis is seen on the company's building in Velizy-Villacoublay near Paris, France, March 19, 2024.
Stellantis is cutting 400 jobs.

Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

In August, the owner of Jeep and Dodge announced it is cutting 2,450 factory workers from its Warren Truck assembly plant outside Detroit.

The layoffs come because the company is ending production of the Ram 1500 Classic truck, Stellantis said. These factory cuts came after white-collar jobs were axed earlier this year.

On March 22, the company said it would lay off employees on its engineering, technology, and software teams in an effort to cut costs, CNBC reported.

Stellantis announced plans for another round of layoffs on July 30, according to Bloomberg. The company is offering voluntary buyouts to non-unionized US employees to "assist those interested in pursuing other career options or retirement," Stellantis said in a message seen by Bloomberg.

The job cuts, the total number of which remains unknown, come after a difficult first half of the year, with unit sales sinking by 16% in the US.

Sonos laid off about 6% of its workforce
Sonos Roam, portable speakers
Sonos laid off about 100 workers in August.

Courtesy of Sonos

The audio equipment company said it slashed roughly 100 jobs in August. The layoffs significantly targeted its marketing division, The Verge reported.

CEO Patrick Spence said in a statement to BI that the company is now focusing on departing employees and "ensuring they have the support they need."

"This action was a difficult, but necessary, measure to ensure continued, meaningful investment in Sonos' product roadmap while setting Sonos up for long term success," Spence said.

Sonos is also reducing some of its customer support offices and will close one in Amsterdam later this year, according to The Verge.

The company previously cut around 7% of its workforce in June 2023, a month after it announced a 24% revenue drop in the second quarter compared to the previous year.

Cisco announced two rounds of layoffs this year
cisco
The cuts comprised 5% of the networking company's workforce.

REUTERS/Mike Blake

In February, networking company Cisco announced it was slashing 5% of its workforce, upward of 4,000 jobs, Bloomberg reported.

The company said it was restructuring after an industry-wide pullback in corporate tech spending — which execs said they expect to continue through the first half of the year.

On August 14, in a filing, Cisco said it would further reduce its global workforce by 7% amid sales and revenue declines. Reuters reported earlier that the company was slashing around 4,000 jobs as it shifted attention to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

Per its latest annual filing, Cisco had about 85,000 employees as of July 2023.

GoPro is laying off nearly 140 employees
GoPro camera on white table
GoPro will go through a second round of layoffs in 2024.

David Becker via Getty Images

Long-troubled GoPro is laying off 15% of its 925 current employees, the company said in a filing.

The action sports camera maker reported a net loss of nearly $48 million in the quarter that ended in June, adding to a streak of consecutive losses.

The company laid off 4% of its staff in March.

Shell is reportedly planning for major cuts in its oil exploration division
Shell logo
Shell plans for major layoffs in its oil and gas exploration division.

INA FASSBENDER/Getty Images

Oil giant Shell will slash its workforce in oil and gas exploration and development by 20%, according to an August 29 report from Reuters. Company sources reportedly cited intentions to cut costs in the highly profitable segments due to "deep cuts in renewables and low-carbon businesses."

Exploration, wells development, and subsurface units will face hundreds of layoffs globally, with offices in Houston, The Hauge, and Britain expected to take the biggest hit, the sources told Reuters.

A Shell spokesperson would not comment directly on the layoffs but told Business Insider that, "Shell aims to create more value with less emissions by focusing on performance, discipline and simplification across the business."

"That includes delivering structural operating cost reductions of $2-3 billion by the end of 2025, as announced at our Capital Markets Day event in June 2023," the spokesperson added.

Goldman Sachs plans to lay off more than 1,300 workers, The Wall Street Journal reported
Goldman Sachs logo
Goldman Sachs has already begun cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The global investment bank is set to cut hundreds of employees during annual reviews this year, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

Goldman Sachs is targeting low performers with the intention of laying off between 3% and 4% of its global workforce, equaling somewhere between 1,300 and 1,800 people, according to the outlet.

The cuts are already underway and will continue in the coming months, one person told the outlet. Goldman typically tries to cut anywhere from 2% to 7% of employees each year, per The Journal.

Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop is cutting 18% of staff
Gwyneth Paltrow speaks at the In goop Health Summit in Los Angeles in 2021.
Gwyneth Paltrow speaks at the In Goop Health Summit in Los Angeles in 2021. The wellness company is laying off 18% of its staff amid a strategy shift.

Rachel Murray/Getty Images for goop

Goop is cutting 18% of its 216-person staff, citing a change to its organization, WWD wrote in September. It will now focus on beauty, fashion, and food — specifically its Goop Beauty and good.clean.goop beauty brands, G.Label clothing line, and Goop Kitchen restaurants.

That means it's moving away from wellness, home, travel, and sexual wellness, some of which are categories that once defined the brand.

Samsung plans to cut jobs globally this year, Reuters reported
Samsung logo displayed on a phone
Samsung is planning global job cuts in 2024.

SOPA Images/Getty Images

Samsung is planning to cut jobs this year, a move that will impact workers in the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa, Reuters reported.

The electronic devices maker will cut up to 30% of staff in some divisions, the report says. It is unclear how many jobs will be impacted.

Samsung told Reuters in a statement that the workforce adjustments would not impact its production staff and that no specific targets for the cuts are in place.

Verizon is laying off 4,800 US employees
People walking by a Verizon location
Verizon will let go of 4,800 US-based management employees by March 2025.

Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Getty Images

Verizon is letting go of 4,800 US-based management employees in a voluntary separation program.

The company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that more than half of these employees would exit in September, while the rest will leave by the end of March 2025.

The telecommunications giant expects severance charges to cost as much as $1.9 billion before tax in the third quarter of this year.

General Motors is laying off about 1,700 employees in Kansas
GM logo at General Motors headquarters
General Motors is laying off about 1,700 employees at its Fairfax plant in Kansas.

Rebecca Cook/Reuters

General Motors is laying off 1,695 employees at its Fairfax plant in Kansas, the company said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice in mid-September.

The layoffs will begin in mid-November, and a second phase will continue in January, Reuters reported, citing a GM spokesperson. It is unclear which departments will be affected, but about 1,450 of these employees will be laid off temporarily, the spokesperson said.

In August, the carmaker laid off over 1,000 workers, or 1.3% of its workforce.

The August layoffs came primarily from GM's software and services business, which it had bulked up over the past few years. Last year, the company brought on two former Apple executives to run the unit.

Flexport conducts second round of layoffs in 2024
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen began rescinding job offers on Friday.
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen returned to the company in September.

Sam Barnes/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images

US logistics startup Flexport is laying off another 2% of its US staff this week as it aims to cut costs and reorganizes its retail delivery business.

The fulfillment center-focused cuts amount to about 40 people and were first reported by The Information, citing an internal memo.

In January, Flexport cut 15% of its staff, or around 400 people. Those cuts came after Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen initiated a 20% reduction of its workforce of an estimated 2,600 employees in October 2023.

Flexport kicked off 2024 with the announcement that it raised $260 million from Shopify and made "massive progress toward returning Flexport to profitability."

NYCB's Flagstar Bank cuts 700 jobs
Flagstar bank branch
NYCB's Flagstar Bank is cutting 700 jobs as part of a business overhaul.

Facebook/Adobe Stock/BI

New York Community Bancorp's Flagstar Bank will cut 8% of its workforce, or 700 jobs, as it aims to revamp its business, the company's CEO, Joseph Otting, said in a statement on October 17.

An additional 1,200 employees will be laid off at the end of the quarter after the company sells its residential mortgage business.

NYCB is also changing its name to Flagstar Financial as part of the turnaround efforts after losses from its commercial real estate portfolio.

Chief, a networking group for female executives, made cuts across the company
Chief cofounders Lindsay Kaplan and Carolyn Childers speak onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022.
Chief, cofounded by Lindsay Kaplan and Carolyn Childers, laid off staff.

Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch.

Chief, which has positioned itself as the nation's largest network of senior executive women, confirmed to Business Insider on October 20 that it has shed roles.

The company told BI that the cuts, which had already been announced internally, mainly impacted "our technology and administrative functions."

"Like many companies, we are balancing growth and profitability," the spokesperson added.

In a June press release, the American company said 40% of its members were C-suite executives and that they represent more than 10,000 companies.

In April 2023, Chief cut 14% of its workforce in what the founders called a "challenging economic environment," TechCrunch reported at the time.

This January, the company said it would close its London offices — opened one year previously — to refocus on the American market.

Visa will reportedly lay off around 1,400 people
Visa card close up
Visa plans to lay off around 1,400 people by the end of the year, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Visa plans to lay off around 1,400 workers this year, The Wall Street Journal reported on October 29.

In a statement provided to BI, a Visa spokesperson said the company expects to grow its workforce for the foreseeable future but that it is continuously evolving to serve clients, innovate, and grow, "which can lead to the elimination of some roles."

"When this happens, we are committed to supporting our employees," the spokesperson added.

Workers affected by layoffs included employees and contractors, with more than 1,000 in technology roles, the Journal reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation. Visa has more than 30,000 employees.

Dropbox is slashing around 20% of its global workforce
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston announced the company is laying off around 20% of its workforce.

Reuters/ Mike Blake

The cloud storage company is laying off 528 employees, targeting "over-invested or underperforming" areas, CEO Drew Houston announced in an email sent to employees.

"As CEO, I take full responsibility for this decision and the circumstances that led to it, and I'm truly sorry to those impacted by this change," Houston wrote.

The Dropbox chief cited diminishing demand and macro headwinds in the company's core business, as well as excessive management levels, as contributing factors.

The layoffs come as the company is undergoing a "transitional period" with its growing File Sync and Share (FSS) business and greater efforts on products like Dash, Dropbox's AI-powered work assistant.

KPMG plans to cut nearly 4% of its US audit workforce.
KPMG logo
KPMG plans to lay off about 330 people in its US audit workforce.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Consulting giant KPMG informed about 330 people, or less than 4%, in its US audit workforce that they would be laid off within the next couple of weeks, a spokesperson told BI.

"The actions reflect our ongoing focus to align the size, shape and skills of our workforce to the market, while addressing continued low levels of attrition," the spokesperson said in a written statement.

This follows an earlier round of layoffs in March, as well as another one last summer, that also affected the company's audit unit, similarly due to low levels of voluntary exits, the spokesperson said.

Nissan said it will slash 9,000 jobs globally.
The Nissan logo on the rear of a 2024 Nissan Z sports car.
Nissan said it will cute 20% of its staff.

Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider

Japanese automobile giant Nissan said during its November earnings release that it would be cutting 9,000 jobs in an attempt to save money.

The car company reported lower revenue for the period, which it attributed to higher selling and production costs. Nissan said it brought in about 32 million yen, or $208 million, at the end of the first half of the fiscal year — a steep drop from the $1.4 billion it reported for the same time last year.

In addition to a 20% production capacity reduction, CEO Makoto Uchida will give up 50% of his compensation and other executives have taken voluntary pay cuts.

NASA JPL plans to cut about 5% of its workforce.
mars curiosity rover
Mars Curiosity rover at the John Klein site.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California is cutting its workforce for the second time this year.

In November, the agency announced it plans to lay off 325 employees, or about 5% of its workforce. The cuts follow a round of layoffs in February, where JPL cut 530 employees.

"Although we can never have perfect insight into the future, I sincerely believe that after this action we will be at a more stable workforce level moving forward," JPL Director Laurie Leshin wrote in a company-wide memo.

Leshin added that the reductions affect all areas of JPL including technical, project, business, and support areas. The layoffs are the result of "continued funding challenges" Leshin wrote.

JPL is responsible for some of NASA's most daring feats like landing the Curiosity rover on Mars and guiding Voyagers 1 and 2 into interstellar space.

Associated Press will lay off 8% of its global staff.
A man walks out of Associated Press headquarters.
Associated Press will lay off 8% of its staff, the company announced in November.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

The Associated Press in November announced plans to reduce its staff by 8% through a combination of buyouts and layoffs.

"This is about ensuring AP's important role as the only truly independent news organization at scale during a period of transformation in the media industry," The Associated Press said in a statement about the cuts.

The union representing a portion of AP members indicated 121 of its guild members would be offered buyouts before layoffs began, per AP.

Less than half of the expected cuts will involve news employees, the outlet reported, and though the AP has bureaus around the world, a majority of the staff reduction will occur within the United States.

Sotheby's laid off 100 workers.
Sotheby's logo and filled room
Sotheby's laid off 100 workers in its New York offices.

Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Sotheby's cut 100 employees from its New York offices on Tuesday, the company confirmed to multiple publications. The layoffs include back-office workers, junior staffers, and specialists, reports said.

The layoffs come as the auction market has experienced a recent slowdown in sales and earnings. The company also previously cut about 50 employees in its London location, Art News reported.

Sotheby's recently closed a deal in October for Abu Dhabi investment company ADQ to acquire a minority stake in the company. ADQ said in a press release about the deal that the $1 billion investment was meant to support Sotheby's domestic and international expansion plans.

Sotheby's did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Wells Fargo plans to cut over 700 workers in Oregon.
wells fargo
Wells Fargo plans to cut over 700 workers in Oregon locations.

REUTERS/ Shannon Stapleton

Wells Fargo filed two WARN notices on December 4 sharing plans to lay off over 700 workers in Oregon, including 500 people from its Hillsboro location and 221 employees from its Salem office. It also plans to shut down both offices.

The company said in its filing that it verbally notified employees of the changes on December 3, and plans to deliver formal notices for displacement in the fourth quarter of 2025. Wells Fargo said it will provide more details on impacted roles at a later time.

Those who don't get relocated into other roles within the business are eligible to receive severance based on years of service and their opportunity to use the company health plan at active rates, the filing said.

"We continue to bring the majority of our non-customer facing positions together in locations best suited for our customers and our company," a Wells Fargo spokesperson told BI. "This effort does not impact our commitment to serving customers and clients."

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Dell pays $2.3 million to settle claims that it overcharged the US Army for computers

The blue Dell logo on a white light box hangs from a ceiling in a large hall.
The DoJ said Dell and Iron Bow created the false appearance of competition in bids to the US Army.

NurPhoto/Getty

  • Dell has agreed to pay $2.3 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act.
  • Dell and reseller Iron Bow overcharged the US Army for computers over four years, the DOJ said.
  • Fraud in the government contract process costs taxpayers, said a US attorney involved in the case.

Dell has agreed to pay $2.3 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act in its business with the US Army.

The Department of Justice said the Texas-based tech giant and one of its resellers, Iron Bow, had overcharged on government contracts between May 2020 to April 2024.

This resulted in the Army overpaying for the Army Desktop and Mobile Computing 3 (ADMC-3) contract, of which Dell is a prime contractor, the DOJ said.

The government alleged that Dell sold certain computer hardware products at a discounted price to Iron Bow.

When both companies submitted bids for the ADMC-3 contract to the Army, Dell knowingly inflated its prices, "creating the false appearance of competition," the DOJ said. Iron Bow would win the contract, while Dell shifted stock.

The DOJ said this violated the False Claims Act, influenced the Army's selection process, and enabled Iron Bow to overcharge the Army for certain Dell products.

Iron Bow has agreed to pay just over $2 million to settle the claims, bringing the combined settlement to $4.3 million.

Brent Lillard, a whistleblower who raised concerns about possible collusion, will receive $345,000 from Dell's payment. Lillard is the CEO of a rival IT reseller, Govsmart.

There has been no determination of liability, the DOJ said.

"Dell has entered into a settlement agreement because we believe it is in the best interest of Dell, our customers and partners. The settlement is not an admission of guilt or liability," a Dell spokesperson told Business Insider.

Dell products on display in a shop.
Dell sells certain laptops and desktop models to the US Army.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

While the $2.3 million payment is significant, it represents a tiny fraction of Dell's overall earnings. The tech company had revenues of $88.4 billion in its last full financial year.

The ADMC-3 contract is worth roughly $5 billion and is open to eight contractors, including Dell and Iron Bow.

Government officials had strong words for Dell after issuing the fine.

"The United States relies on competition to get the best value and price for the American taxpayers," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department's Civil Division.

The Justice Department official added that the department was committed to holding "those who overcharge the government through collusion or other unlawful conduct" accountable.

"Fraud in the government contracting process costs taxpayers untold dollars each year," said US Attorney Prim F. Escalona for the Northern District of Alabama, where the case was brought.

The US government spends hundreds of billions annually on contracts with private companies. In 2023, the DOJ recovered nearly $2.7 billion from 543 settlements "involving fraud and false claims against the government." That was the most claim settlements in a single year.

Government contracts are under increasing scrutiny since Donald Trump named Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as leaders of a new unofficial "Department of Government Efficiency" — or DOGE.

Ramaswamy said on Sunday that DOGE could abolish entire federal agencies, reduce the head count in "bloated" areas of government, and make "massive" cuts to federal contracting.

Iron Bow did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

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