The recent layoffs and the future of US tech

With the Covid-19 pandemic, although the world had come to a standstill, there was unprecedented growth in the tech industry, as it was embraced by people from all walks of life like never before, resulting in many big tech firms earning unheard-of profits. However, since the end of 2022, there has been a steep decline primarily due to the economic chaos experienced worldwide as a result of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as an impending recession, increasing inflation, and a slowdown in the employment market. This has occurred particularly in the US and European markets, with the tech sector facing the brunt of it and experiencing billions of dollars worth of market value losses.

Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google, and Tesla, had collectively shed more than $3 trillion in market value by the end of October 2022. While Google and Microsoft lost $700 billion each, and Facebook (Meta) lost $600 billion; Amazon, a public company, became the first to lose a trillion dollars in market value, making the situation even worse. Hence, to tackle this economic slowdown, all the companies, including Alphabet, the parent company of Google, have opted for a string of layoffs.