Snap to lay off 10% of global workforce in second round of job cuts
Nickie Louise
Posted On February 5, 2024
Snap, the social media company behind Snapchat, announced on Monday that it is laying off 10% of its workforce globally, amounting to roughly 500 employees. The move is part of its strategy to encourage more face-to-face collaboration among their teams and “promote in-person collaboration.”
This isn’t the first time Snap has downsized its staff; it has had several rounds of layoffs since 2022, with the most recent being in November, when the company laid off 20 employees from its product team as part of a larger effort to restructure and streamline its operations.
The company’s last major workforce reduction was in August 2022, where they cut 20% of their workforce, totaling over 6,400 employees, alongside a restructuring of their business lines.
Snap disclosed in a recent regulatory filing that it anticipates charges between $55 million to $75 million as a result of these layoffs.
“We’re restructuring our teams to flatten hierarchies and encourage more face-to-face collaboration. We’re committed to supporting our departing team members during this transition,” a spokesperson from Snap told CNBC.
Snap is just one of the many tech companies making cuts in 2024. In January alone, nearly 24,000 tech workers lost their jobs. And already this month, companies like Okta and Zoom, specializing in cybersecurity and identity, respectively, have also announced staff layoffs.
The news of job cuts has stirred up concerns and anxieties among tech workers, especially as major tech companies increasingly rely on artificial intelligence to enhance efficiency and productivity while simultaneously reducing costs.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that artificial intelligence is poised to transform a majority of work in developed economies as the looming job shift. In a statement, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned that AI will impact 60 percent of jobs in advanced economies. According to the IMF report, nearly 40 percent of global employment is exposed to the influence of AI.
