US Social Media Firm Snap Planning To Lay Off Employees: Report


American social media firm Snap Inc is in its early stages of planning layoffs, the Verge reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the plans.

According to a report by Reuters, the scope of the job cuts is currently unclear as its managers are still planning it for their teams.

Snapchat-owner has more than 6,000 employees. However, Snap declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

The development comes as technology firms, crypto exchanges, and financial firms cut jobs and slow hiring as global economic growth slows due to higher interest rates, red-hot inflation, and an energy crisis in Europe.

Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc cut plans to hire engineers by at least 30 per cent this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg had told employees on June, and he warned them to brace for a deep economic downturn.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel also told employees in a memo in May that the company will slow hiring for this year and laid out a broad slate of problems.

Last month, the company painted a grim picture of the effects of a weakening economy on social media and declined to make a forecast in “incredibly challenging” conditions, sending its shares down 25 per cent.

Another US firm, Telsa, said the electric automaker needed to cut employees by about 10 per cent. Elon Musk, chief executive officer (CEO), Tesla, said that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy. The email, titled “pause all hiring worldwide,” was sent to Tesla executives on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Indian online cab aggregator Ola in July had planned to lay off nearly 1,000 employees, while it is in the process of hiring for the electric mobility business, quoting company insiders and recruitment agencies.

Ola had said that the company would lay off 400-500 employees, while the annual appraisals for many staff were yet to be formalised. The actual figure for retrenchment, however, can touch nearly 1,000.