About a quarter of Lyft’s workforce will be impacted by cuts

Pulte Capital CEO Bill Pulte discusses how the Trump indictment could affect the economy and job market on ‘Cavuto: Coast to Coast.’

A slew of companies revealed this week they plan to trim their headcounts.

Disney’s second round of layoffs commenced Monday, with Reuters reporting some 4,000 people getting let go across this and the prior round in late March. A third will take place “before the beginning of the summer” that will complete the 7,000 cuts Disney announced in February, according to a memo from CEO Bob Iger.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s cloud computing and human resources divisions on Wednesday faced layoffs after the company in March revealed plans for 9,000 more cuts. The e-commerce giant is shrinking its employee count by 27,000 overall this year.

Several other companies announced layoffs this week.

Lyft

About a quarter of Lyft’s workforce will be impacted by the latest job cuts, the ride-share company announced Thursday.

The operating costs savings that Lyft expects from the 1,072 layoffs and restructuring efforts will be directed toward “continued service-level improvements benefitting riders and drivers,” according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In this photo illustration the Lyft logo is seen displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The cuts were foreshadowed last week in a staff-wide email from new Lyft CEO David Risher, who had said the company needed to be a “faster, flatter” one where “everyone is closer to our riders and drivers.”

More than 250 job openings were also eliminated as another cost-cutting step, according to Lyft.

Dropbox

Dropbox’s global workforce will see its numbers trimmed by 500, a development CEO Drew Houston revealed in a Thursday blog post. Impacted employees, roughly 16%, received notification the same day.

The “natural maturation” of Dropbox’s existing businesses and “headwinds from the economic downturn” have had an impact on the cloud storage company’s growth, a factor Houston said prompted the layoffs, FOX Business reported.

He also said the company’s “next stage of growth” necessitates a “different mix of skill sets, particularly in AI [artificial intelligence] and early-stage product development.” Dropbox moved people to different teams “wherever possible” as it works to boost its AI efforts, according to his blog post.

First Republic

First Republic, a bank impacted by the recent banking crisis, indicated Monday it will do layoffs, intending to eliminate 20-25%.

The regional lender reported having a total of over 7,200 full-time equivalent employees at the end of last year. That figure also counted temporary workers and contractors, it said.

A person walks past a First Republic bank branch in Manhattan on April 24, 2023 in New York City. The U.S. bank will reveal its latest financial results but concerns over small and medium-sized banks persist following the collapse of Silicon Valley B (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images / Getty Images)

First Republic said it was working to “increase insured deposits, reduce borrowings from the Federal Reserve Bank and decrease loan balances to correspond with the reduced reliance on uninsured deposits” on top of the layoffs and other cost-cutting measures.

Gap

About 1,800 workers belonging to Gap Inc.’s headquarters and upper field workforce will lose their jobs, Gap said Thursday. Within fiscal 2023’s first half, those layoffs and related actions are expected to have largely occurred.

“We are taking the necessary actions to reshape Gap Inc. for the future – simplifying and optimizing our operating model, elevating creativity, and driving better delivery in every dimension of the customer experience,” Interim CEO Bob Martin said in a statement. “These changes include the consistent brand leadership structures we announced last month aimed at flattening the organizational structure to improve the quality and speed of decision-making, while in turn reducing overhead expense.”

A basket of flowers hangs near Gap Inc’s flagship retail store at the Powell Street cable car turn in San Francisco Aug. 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Robert Galbraith/File Photo / Reuters)

Gap is aiming to save about $300 million with its efforts.

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank CEO Christina Sewing told analysts and investors Thursday the bank “will begin to reduce our senior non-client-facing workforce by 5%” and will “limit new hiring” for such jobs. Both of those “right-sizing” moves, he said, would start in the second quarter.

3M

In an effort to make 3M “stronger, leaner and more focused,” the company will shrink its total number of employees by 6,000. The multinational conglomerate revealed its plan involving the cuts as it reported its first-quarter earnings Tuesday.

In prior layoffs in January, 2,500 people in manufacturing roles lost their jobs, as previously reported by FOX Business.

Tyson Foods

On Wednesday, Tyson Foods joined the group of companies announcing layoffs this week, with the Arkansas-based firm reportedly planning to cut some senior leadership and corporate jobs. It previously said in March it was slashing 1,700 positions in connection to the closure of a pair of chicken plants.

Reuters reported that for senior leadership, the newly-revealed reductions will affect 15%, while the share for corporate positions impacted will come in at 10%.

FOX Business reached out to Tyson Foods for comment.

Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.

Dirty Washington and The Dirty Washington lobbists,
Their Ultra Elite Rich Puppet Masters Keep the Coffers Fully

Parent companies for Facebook and Google also spent big in 2022 amid pressure from lawmakers and regulators

Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. set records in their disclosed annual spending on Washington lobbying last year, as each tech giant shelled out more in a year than it ever has before amid pressure from Congress and the Biden administration.

Amazon AMZN, +2.57% and three subsidiaries shelled out a total of $21.38 million in 2022, above a prior record outlay of $19.32 million in 2021, according to an analysis of disclosures by OpenSecrets.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. META, +1.30% pulled back slightly in its lobbying spending, as its 2022 total was $19.15 million vs. $20.07 million in 2021, according to OpenSecrets.

Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOG, +1.96% GOOGL, +1.96% shelled out $13.18 million to influence Washington, with seven units disclosing spending. That’s up from $11.89 million in 2021 but still well below the Silicon Valley company’s record outlay of $21.85 million in 2018, which then was followed by a major overhaul of its lobbyist teams.

Amazon, Meta and Alphabet ranked among the 20 biggest spenders on Washington lobbying in 2022, though they still were far behind the National Association of Realtors, which ranked No. 1 and disclosed paying out $81.74 million. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranked No. 2 and spent $81.01 million.

Amazon’s disclosure for last year’s fourth quarter showed it lobbied on a wide range of issues, including immigration, food safety, telehealth and electric vehicles. Apple reported Q4 lobbying on tax reform, copyright issues, climate change and much more, and Q4 issues for Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet included cybersecurity, infrastructure and trade agreements.

The companies didn’t immediately provide comments following requests from MarketWatch.

Meta’s stock has lost 52% over the past 12 months, while Amazon shares have fallen 32%. Microsoft is off 21% in that same period, Alphabet has shed 27%, and Apple is down 18%. The S&P 500 stock benchmark SPX, +1.46% has pulled back 10%.

By Victor Reklaitis