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Is anyone safe from layoffs right now?

Tech employees brace as companies begin second round of job cuts

Author

Michael Dwyer
February 17, 2023

Happy Friday! This is LGTM, the newsletter your CEO reads to hype himself up before layoffs.

Here’s what we’ve got for you this week:

  • Round two of layoffs for Twilio and Docusign

  • Is anyone still hiring? No. Well kinda...

  • RIP Internet Explorer 🪦

Layoffs aren't over yet

Multiple rounds of layoffs are trendier than chat bots which threaten your customers

Communication API’s company Twilio and eSignature company Docusign both announce their second rounds of layoffs, raising fresh fears among tech workers that layoffs may continue or accelerate.

  • Twilio layoffs 17% of its workforce. The company previously laid off 11% of its workforce in September.

  • Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson stated that “it's clear that we've gotten too big, especially in Communications.”

  • Lawson reduced his salary from $134,000 per year to $65,535 per year but the bulk of his compensation comes in the form of equity grants. Lawson received $14 million in equity in 2021.

  • Twilio was among the first large tech companies to do layoffs last year setting a trend the rest of the industry quickly followed.

  • Twilio is also cutting books and wellness allowances and ending its sabbatical program

Companies generally prefer doing layoffs in a single cut because multiple rounds can ruin company morale and cause top performers to flee but recently tech companies have shown willingness to subject employees to multiple rounds of job cuts. This could signal that executives feel business fundamentals or macroeconomic conditions have further deteriorated since the last round of cuts.

Other companies may soon follow:

Is anyone still hiring?

Levels.fyi has compiled a helpful list of companies still hiring. A few things stand out:

  • Surprisingly, some of the companies hiring, like Twitter, Udemy and Flexport have recently gone through layoffs. This is actually pretty common and can occur when companies become bloated in one area (like recruiting or middle management) but are still lean in others as levels.fyi explains.

  • Small startups dominate the list. Startups emphasize rapid growth and are less concerned about cost cutting measures like layoffs unless they run out of cash.

  • Large legacy enterprises, like John Deere and CVS, appear unaffected by the sudden mood shift in tech.

  • Wall Street is thriving (when does it not?)

So is it time to get a hedge fund job?

Wall Street firms like Citadel and Hudson River Trading are known for extremely high compensation that even FAANG cannot match but were historically shunned by tech workers for less exciting work and grueling work hours. With most big tech companies cutting perks and freezing hiring, it may be time for job searchers to give these firms a second look.

In Memoriam: Internet Explorer

Microsoft has disabled Internet Explorer on all devices, officially killing the web browser.

We’re getting choked up just thinking about the good times we had with our old friend internet explorer. We bid you farewell. We’ll never forget the times us, you, and AIM used to hang out.

Quick Snippets

📣 TikTok's Time's Up?: TikTok growth slowed last year after a meteoric rise to the top. In an effort to hang on to its DAU (Daily Active Users), the Chinese owned company is reportedly drumming up new features and even possibly testing paywalled content.

📣 Susan Wojcicki steps down: The Old Guard is changing in Big Tech, as Susan Wojcicki has been YouTube's CEO since 2014.

📣 Salesforce's Slowdown Imminent?: Twitter cut its Salesforce contract from $25 million to just $5 million last month due to their reduced headcount. Layoffs could spell trouble for Salesforce as enterprise software contracts naturally shrink along with headcount. Maybe Marc Benioff shouldn't have been cheering on Elon's Twitter Purge after all...

Well that's all we have for you this week. Until next time, LGTM 👋