My last layoff, from a news-adjacent tech startup, came via Google Hangouts. My access to everything was turned off at the beginning of the call and I had to dial in from my personal account to finish getting laid off. By this point, I had seen several colleagues laid off, the company's lone human resources person leave and a new chief revenue officer come in. I was prepared, and it made a difference.
Nobody tells you that getting laid off might be one of the best things that ever happened to you. When I lost my job during those brutal media industry cuts, I spent four months in my pajamas, eating cereal for dinner, and questioning every career choice I'd ever made. But here's the strange part: looking back now, that experience fundamentally changed who I am as a person. And I mean that in the best possible way.
Amazon is cutting 16,000 corporate jobs, pushing thousands of workers into a job market already crowded with tech talent. Business Insider was all over the news, with scoop after scoop, including internal messages revealing which teams and jobs were affected. The layoffs followed the 14,000 job cuts Amazon announced back in October. And it's not just Amazon.
Three Tri-Valley school districts are facing significant financial dilemmas heading into next year, with budget cuts and potential layoffs threatening to hit classrooms. Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore schools are all grappling with multi-million dollar budget deficits in the 2026-27 school year, with the districts citing declining enrollment and decreased state and federal funding as having created budget holes that will likely lead to difficult decisions.
UN's Palestinian refugee agency cast into forced austerity: 600 staff members laid off, Gaza salaries cut by 20%, working hours reduced; aid access blocked amid worsening humanitarian crisis. Gaza City After 18 years as a teacher with an UNRWA-run school, Maryam Shaaban (name changed for safety reasons) fainted upon learning she was among 600 employees dismissed from their posts, the latest in a barrage of devastating blows borne out of Israel's genocidal war on the besieged enclave.
Will AI lead to layoffs? Are people already losing their jobs to AI? While overall employment in the U.S. is still relatively low, there is considerable speculation that the adoption of generative AI was a cause of recent layoffs and slowed hiring, particularly in the tech industry, for entry-level workers, and in customer service and programming jobs. More may be coming: Leading CEOs-including those from Ford, Amazon, Salesforce, and JP Morgan Chase-have proclaimed that many white-collar jobs at their companies will soon disappear.
"We're starting to see projects that used to take big teams now be accomplished by a single, very talented person," he said. Already this year, Meta has laid off several hundred workers mainly in its Reality Labs division, a part of the company that focuses on its "metaverse" ambitions, hardware products and AI initiatives. Zuckerberg said Meta is investing more across the company in AI tools that help employees like software engineers complete more work.
The layoffs affected positions at the home improvement chain's store support center near Atlanta, a company spokesperson told Business Insider. "We're simplifying our corporate operations to better support our stores and our customers," the spokesperson said. "Our goal is to drive greater agility and position the company to move faster and stay even more closely connected with our frontline associates." Home Depot is offering affected employees separation packages and other support, the spokesperson added.
Where it stands: Amazon's latest round of layoffs - 16,000 corporate jobs axed - is the latest piece of grim news for professionals who are growing antsy about the job market. An increasing share of Americans are either reporting that they expect to lose pay or have already lost pay, per Morning Consult's data. A separate report from The Conference Board on Tuesday also showed that people's perceptions about the job market - the so-called labor market differential - are continuing to flag.
"In the last months, many of our customers have shared a notably more positive assessment of the medium-term market situation, primarily based on more robust expectations of the sustainability of AI-related demand. This is reflected in a marked step-up in their medium-term capacity plans and in our record order intake," ASML President and Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet said in a statement.
Amazon said it is discontinuing Amazon One, its palm-authentication service, across all retail businesses. Users will be able to continue to use Amazon One at supported retail locations until June 3, though some locations may phase the services out before this date. The services will remain available to patients for check-in at healthcare locations until further notice. Amazon One enables users to use their palms for actions such as paying at a store, presenting loyalty cards, and entering sports venues.
A support center for Saks Global in Miramar has become a casualty of the luxury retail giant's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, along with the business' entire 74-member workforce. The New York-based Saks Global notified Florida Commerce on Jan. 23 that the center operated by Saks & Co. LLC at 2784 Executive Way will soon close, and that permanent layoffs will take place between March 27 and April 30. "The entire facility will be closed and all employees at the facility will be separated from employment," wrote Associate General Counsel Janet Lee in WARN Notice letters to the Florida Department of Commerce Reemployment and Emergency Assistance Coordination Team and to Miramar Mayor Wayne M. Messam. "This closure is expected to be permanent."
The company has come under pressure in recent months. Its sales in the Americas have slid, and analysts say the brand has veered from its yoga roots and become more generic. Its stock price has sunk 53% in the past year. Chip Wilson, the founder of Lululemon, has also become increasingly vocal in his criticism of the athleisure company. At the end of last year, he launched a proxy battle to change the leadership of Lululemon's board.
The business is pulling its EMEA operations and activities back into its headquarters in Paris, France just seven months after it set up a London base. Executives in London were tasked with selling to media agencies the Adikteev's MotionLead technology, which creates bespoke mobile ad units, and it is understood that the first local campaigns for the formats had been secured.
