BlackRock, Ally, Microsoft, Washington Post and other US firms to lay off staff in 2025; check full list
- The companies want to slim their staff to cut costs against the backdrop of technological change, especially over the next five years due to the rise of artificial intelligence.
Workforce reductions in the past two years have been a major concern across sectors, including tech, media, finance, manufacturing, and retail. However, according to a Business Insider report published on January 9, layoffs in major global firms, including Microsoft, BlackRock, and Ally, will continue in 2025.
Among the multiple reasons the firms cite, they want to slim their staff as part of the cost-cutting measures against the backdrop of technological change, especially over the next five years because of the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
A couple of days ago, the World Economic Forum released its 'Future of Jobs Report', in which it mentioned that as many as 41 per cent of companies want to reduce their workforce due to AI automation. The report added that 170 million new jobs would be created by 2030, and 92 million jobs would be displaced.
Earlier, firms like Dropbox, Google, and IBM announced job cuts related to AI.
Here are the firms mulling job cuts in 2025:
BlackRock:
According to Bloomberg, BlackRock told employees that it was planning to cut about 200 people from its 21,000-strong workforce.
These reductions are more than offset by the addition of some 3,750 workers in 2024, and another 2,000 are expected to be added in 2025.
The cuts would help realign the firm's resources with its strategy, Bloomberg quoted BlackRock's president, Rob Kapito, and its chief operating officer, Rob Goldstein, as saying.
Bridgewater:
On Monday, Bridgewater Associates cut 7 per cent of its staff, aiming to stay lean, reported Business Insider, quoting a source.
With these layoffs, the world's largest hedge fund staff count comes to where it was in 2023. Earlier in 2019, The company's founder, Ray Dalio, said about 30 per cent of new employees were leaving the firm within 18 months.
Washington Post:
In an effort to cut costs, The Washington Post is eliminating less than 100 employees, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Stating that the changes wouldn't affect the newsroom, the spokesperson said, as quoted by Reuters, "The Washington Post is continuing its transformation to meet the needs of the industry, build a more sustainable future and reach audiences where they are."
Microsoft:
Taking a harder look at underperforming employees, Microsoft is planning job cuts. However, the firm declined to share details on the number of employees to be fired.
"At Microsoft, we focus on high-performance talent," the BI quoted a spokesperson as saying. "We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action," the spokesperson noted.
Ally:
The digital financial services major Ally is laying off roughly 500 of its 11,000 employees, a spokesperson confirmed to BI.
"As we continue to right-size our company, we made the difficult decision to selectively reduce our workforce in some areas while continuing to hire in our other areas of business," BI quoted the spokesperson as saying. The Ally made a similar level of cuts in October 2023, reported the Charlotte Observer.
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Business NewsCompaniesNewsBlackRock, Ally, Microsoft, Washington Post and other US firms to lay off staff in 2025; check full list
First Published:10 Jan 2025, 09:46 PM IST
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