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Electric skateboard maker Boosted announces 'significant' layoffs
In 2012, Boosted came onto the scene with its crowdfunded Loaded Vanguard light electric skateboard and has since produced a string of personal vehicles including last year's Rev scooter. Unfortunately things may be nearing the end, as the company announced "the incredibly difficult decision to let a significant portion of the Boosted team go." It cited the "unplanned challenge "of the US-China tariff war as a factor in its struggle, despite the many riders putting in millions of miles of riding on its products. Since its launch, the "micromobility" field has become increasingly crowded, and there doesn't seem to be a sure winner at this point, but as its CTO and CEO noted in the post, the need to keep capital flowing to maintain production and maintenance of vehicles is tricky. Now the plan is to "pursue strategic options under new ownership," so we'll have to wait and see what that looks like in the future.
Ancestry lays off 100 employees as DNA test demand dwindles
Ancestry has announced that it had to lay off six percent of its workforce, or around 100 workers, due to "a slowdown in consumer demand across the entire DNA category" over the past year and a half. The news comes just a few weeks after 23andMe, another home DNA testing service, revealed that it cut 100 workers because of dwindling sales.
23andMe lays off 100 workers amid shrinking demand for DNA tests
If you're skittish about DNA testing services, you're not the only one -- and it's directly affecting one of the heavyweights in the field. The 23andMe team is laying off about 100 workers, or 14 percent of its total workforce, in light of declining sales. The job cuts will focus on units responsible for growing and scaling the company. In the months ahead, 23andMe expects to cut back its work on clinical studies and focus more on its home testing and therapeutic offerings.
Uber lays off employees from Eats, self-driving cars and other teams
Uber has cut around 350 more employees across several of its divisions. The company said it's the "last wave of a process" that saw layoffs in marketing, then product and engineering over the last few months. This time around, Uber has laid off members of the Eats, performance marketing, Advanced Technologies Group (the self-driving cars unit) and recruiting departments, along with its global rides and platform teams. In total, the job cuts account for around one percent of Uber's workforce.
Uber cuts 435 jobs in its product and engineering teams
Uber is still bleeding cash, and that's unfortunately contributing to job cuts. The ridesharing firm has laid off 435 employees in its product and engineering groups, or about 8 percent of the two divisions. The company isn't shy about the reasoning. In a statement, Uber told TechCrunch that it hired in a "decentralized way" to keep up with its startup-era growth. Now, it wants to focus on "lean, exceptionally high-performing teams." It needs to recruit more strategically, to put it another way.
Huawei lays off two thirds of its US research division
The rumors of Huawei laying off a large chunk of its US staff have come to pass. The company is cutting over 600 of the 850 jobs at its Futurewei Technologies research wing in the country in response to the "curtailment of business operations" by the US government's trade blacklisting. Simply put, the researchers can't do their jobs now that it's illegal for Futurewei to transfer much of its work to its parent company.
Huawei preps 'extensive' US job cuts despite partial reprieve
Huawei appears to be prepared for a long trade battle despite the US government's promises of easing some restrictions. Wall Street Journal sources claim Huawei is prepping "extensive" layoffs at its Futurewei research offices in the US, with "hundreds" of people out of 850 expected to lose their jobs. Some of its China-born staff will reportedly have the option of staying with the company if they return to their homeland.
Sony may cut half of its smartphone division by 2020
Sony is reportedly getting ready to pull up some of its stakes in the smartphone business. According to Nikkei Asian Review, the major tech manufacturer is planning to cut up to half of its smartphone workforce by 2020. The potential layoffs could leave as many as 2,000 people without a job, though the company is expected to transfer some of those workers to other divisions. Engadget reached out to Sony regarding the layoffs and will update this story if we hear back.
EA is the latest game publisher to make major layoffs
Just months after Activision laid off 8 percent of its workforce, EA is the latest AAA games publisher to announce its own job cuts. The company behind FIFA and recent blockbuster Apex Legends is letting 350 people go (roughly 4 percent of its workforce) from marketing, publishing and other areas, according to an internal email obtained by Kotaku. Those affected have reportedly been aware of looming layoffs since October and will be given severance. EA boss Andrew Wilson said in the email that the move would streamline decision-making in the affected departments and improve customer support.
Apple details layoffs of 190 workers in its self-driving car division
After early confirmation, Apple is officially laying off workers in its self-driving car team. The company sent a letter to the California Employment Development Department warning that it would let go of 190 Project Titan members employees in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. The move will take place April 16th and will mostly affect engineers, with 124 losing their positions.
Smart glasses maker North reportedly lays off 150
North, the makers of the Focals smart glasses, has laid off a portion of its workforce. The company confirmed the layoffs to Engadget but would not specify how many people lost their jobs. The Verge reported today that the cuts affected 150 employees, which would account for a significant chunk of the more than 400 people who were employed by North.
Razer's job cuts signal a shift away from mobile
Razer's decision to close its game store wasn't its only cost-cutting measure. The game hardware maker has cut 30 jobs (about 2 percent of its workforce), and its mobile team appears to have been affected more than most. In a statement to Droid Life, it confirmed that it laid off "some" workers and moved others to "new projects." It still saw "great opportunities" in mobile hardware and software, and had "new exciting mobile projects" in the pipeline, but it wasn't clear whether there was a future for the company's handsets beyond the Razer Phone 2.
Activision Blizzard lays off nearly 800 employees after 'record' 2018
Activision Blizzard has begun laying off some of its 9,600 employees, mostly in non-development sectors, even as it reported a record net revenue of $7.50 billion in 2018, up from $7.02 billion in 2017. Activision expects to lose 8 percent of its staff, or nearly 800 employees. The company plans to restructure its efforts and focus on core franchises such as Overwatch, Diablo, Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Warcraft and Hearthstone. On a call with investors today, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick called 2018 a record year.
Tesla is laying off 7 percent of its full-time employees
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced that the company is laying off 7 percent of its full-time employees in an effort to cut costs and increase profits. He revealed that while Tesla will run a second consecutive quarterly profit, it will be less than what it earned last quarter. Over the past year or two, Tesla had massively increased its workforce to try to fulfill hundreds of thousands of orders. "We grew by 30 percent last year, which is more than we can support," he said, adding that the company will only retain the most critical temps and contractors.
SpaceX will lay off 10 percent of its staff to fund projects
SpaceX is letting around 10 percent of its 6,000-plus employees go, according to Reuters and Ars Technica. The private space corporation has previously said it's been profitable for years, thanks to lucrative contracts from clients that include NASA and the US Air Force. But it looks like the company is tightening its belt to ensure it has the money for its biggest projects, namely the development of interplanetary rockets and a space-based internet meant to cover the entire planet.
'H1Z1' developer Daybreak lays off staff amid restructuring efforts
Unfortunately, Telltale's effective closure wasn't the end of tough times for the game industry. H1Z1 and EverQuest developer Daybreak Game Company has confirmed that it's laying off staff as it's "optimizing [its] structure" for the future. The company didn't say how many people were losing their jobs, but former Daybreak president John Smedley had briefly claimed on Twitter (since absent) that the cuts affected as many as 70 people. There hasn't been confirmation of this number, and he has since deleted the tweet.
Faraday Future furloughs hundreds more employees
Electric vehicle startup Faraday Future is planning to furlough hundreds of its employees as a result of an ongoing dispute with the company's primary investor. The latest round of cuts, which will affect at least 250 employees, follows significant cut backs made by the company earlier this year.
After Math: Let's shake things up
As Anchorage, Alaska was being rocked by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake this week (which, as of the writing of this post, had thankfully only resulted in infrastructure damage and not any actual injuries), the tech industry was making major rumblings of its own. Tesco is teaming with VW to change how shoppers charge their cars, Lyft plans to triple the number of available CitiBikes, Fortnite continues to curbstomp its battle royale competition, and Microsoft (ever so briefly) stole the crown for "world's most valuable business" from Apple.
GM cuts workers and plants as it shifts focus to electric vehicles
General Motors announced today that is planning to lay off 15 percent of its contract workers, shutter five plants in North America, and discontinue production on six vehicle models next year. The move comes as part of a major restructuring of the car manufacturer that has been suffering from lagging sales. Going forward, GM intends to focus on electric and autonomous vehicle programs, just like basically every other car maker.
Faraday Future cites arbitration victory despite layoffs
Earlier this week, electric car startup Faraday Future confirmed that it laid off a number of employees and cut the salaries of those who remained. According to the company, it was running out of money because of the actions of an investor, China's Evergrande Health Industry Group. Now Faraday says it obtained a "decisive" victory through arbitration, which will allow it to seek out funding from others.
