Tech titans curb hiring amid tough times

Hiring freeze: An illustration photo displaying Musk’s account with a Twitter logo in the background. The company has suspended hiring, and even showed a few senior executives the exit. — AFP

Paris: From eCommerce colossus Amazon to social networking star Facebook, US tech firms that once grew with abandon have reined in hiring to endure tumultuous times.

Internet giants that saw business boom during the pandemic have taken a hit from inflation, war, supply-line trouble and people returning to pre-Covid lifestyles.

Corporate belt-tightening was a common theme as big tech firms reported earnings from the first three months of this year.

Facebook parent Meta told analysts that hiring goals were being adjusted as it continued to look to a bright future.

“We regularly re-evaluate our talent pipeline according to our business needs, and in light of the expense guidance given for this earnings period, we are slowing its growth accordingly,” a Meta spokesperson told AFP.

“However, we will continue to grow our workforce to ensure we focus on long-term impact.”

Seattle-based Amazon, the second largest employer in the United States, revealed that its ranks are overly plump after ending last year with more than twice as many workers as it had in 2019.

As the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 slowed during the first quarter of this year and workers returned from time off, Amazon “quickly went from being understaffed to overstaffed,” chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky told analysts.

Twitter confirmed that it has flat-out suspended hiring, and even showed a few senior executives the exit, as it faces a takeover by Elon Musk, the richest person on the planet.

Musk sent mixed messages last Friday about his proposed Twitter acquisition.

In an early-morning tweet, Musk said the US$44bil (RM194bil) takeover was “temporarily on hold,” pending questions over the social media company’s estimates of the number of fake accounts or “bots.”

“Our industry is in a very challenging macro environment – right now,” Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal said in a tweet.

At ride-share pioneer Uber, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said they will “treat hiring as a privilege,” according to an email to employees seen by CNBC.

While big tech players have steered clear of budget-driven layoffs, such is not the case for stock trading platform Robinhood or Cameo, an app that sells custom video messages from celebrities. Robinhood said in April that it would cut nearly 350 positions, about 9% of its workforce. — AFP