Reddit has again joined the league of companies laying off their workers since the year began. Tech layoffs have taken another dimension as many companies are trying to cut the cost of operations. Reddit, in their latest reports, said that they would be laying off approximately 5% of their employees.
The number of employees at Reddit is nearly 1,800, and approximately 5% of them equates to around 90 individuals. Due to an anticipated economic downturn, many corporations in America's technology industry have been experiencing significant layoffs. This trend is not limited to small and medium-sized tech firms, as even major companies like Meta, Twitter, Microsoft, and Amazon have been forced to let employees go. The number of individuals impacted by these layoffs has reached tens of thousands and there are fears more will come.
Reddit, which initially began from magazine conglomerate Conde Nast in 2011, has seen an increased appreciation of its platform due to partnerships and collaboration with many brands. Recently, they experienced some surge in their platform use when people started trooping in to explore WallStreetBets and other similar forums. In these forums, users can get the latest news and updates on different stocks.
Chief Executive Steve Huffman was reported to have emailed the employees, saying that the company would be laying off approximately 90 people from their work. In addition to retrenching employees, Steve Huffman also said that they would be reducing their hiring rate for the rest of the year. They plan to hire only about 100 people throughout 2023 instead of the 300 they originally planned.
More Tech Layoffs In 2023
Spotify also joined the list of companies that will be laying off their employees this year. According to the company, they made new plans for their streaming platform, including laying off about 2% of their employees. These layoffs came after the ongoing revamp of Spotify's podcast business. "Simultaneously, in collaboration with the podcasting community, we are broadening our analytics capabilities by expanding Spotify For Podcasters, which will help creators maximize their audience on Spotify and beyond," the company announced in a memo.
They noted that the consequence of their new business idea is to reduce the headcount of their employees. About 2% of the whole Spotify employees will be retrenched, which is approximately about 200 people.
"We are expanding our partnership efforts with leading podcasters from across the globe with a tailored approach optimized for each show and creator. This fundamental pivot from a more uniform proposition will allow us to support the creator community better. However, doing so requires adapting; over the past few months, our senior leadership team has worked closely with HR to determine the optimal organization for this next chapter. As a result, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to make a strategic realignment of our group and reduce our global podcast vertical and other functions by approximately 200 people, or 2% of Spotify’s workforce," the company said.
Many other companies are considering laying off their employees, including crypto establishments like Binance. JPMorgan Chase, LinkedIn, and Shopify have all joined the list of companies that have laid off employees within the year.