Tech layoffs reflect decrease in consumer demand

(NewsNation) — Layoffs are sweeping through the tech industry in a sign of softening consumer demand.

While corporate profits and overall job numbers are strong, tech companies have been announcing massive layoffs and hiring freezes.

Elon Musk fired half of Twitter’s workforce after he acquired the company — though reports say some of those workers have been asked to return.

Facebook parent company Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees. Other companies including Lyft, Stripe, Coinbase, Shopify, Snap and Netflix announced layoffs as well. Amazon and Apple announced hiring freezes.

ReachOut Technology founder Rick Jordan said the tech sector is going through a correction.

“It’s great to see that inflation seems to be curving a little bit right now. But we still have a ways to go, you’ll see more layoffs,” he said.

Jordan noted that Meta and Twitter were unique cases in this round of tech layoffs, because both companies had overextended themselves.

“Their issue is spending. Since 2015, they’ve spent $85 billion on what we call capex or capital expenditures. That’s just cash that produces no revenue. They think it’s going to have a payoff eventually,” Jordan said of Meta.

In particular, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sunk billions into the Metaverse concept of a virtual world which has so far been unsuccessful.

Twitter was also losing around $4 million a day when Musk acquired it, a deficit which has led the billionaire to suggest multiple new revenue streams for the platform.

In the case of companies like Apple, Stripe and others, Jordan said softening consumer demand is behind the layoffs.

Those companies are also dealing with the fallout of a hiring spree during the pandemic when demand soared.

The recent cryptocurrency crash has also hit the tech industry hard, though Jordan said the technology behind currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum has wider uses.

Blockchain, which is at the core of cryptocurrency, is a way of tracking and transferring information securely. It can be used to verify real, non-virtual assets and transfer data efficiently and accurately. While cryptocurrency is volatile, blockchain technology can also be used in other, more stable industries like banking.

“The technology itself, blockchain, is very useful and functional. And now we’ll probably see a lot of new companies,” Jordan said.