The list of major US companies laying off staff in the new year, including Meta, Microsoft, and BlackRock

Microsoft is planning job cuts in the new year.

Layoffs and other workforce reductions are continuing in 2025, following two years of significant job cuts across tech, media, finance, manufacturing, and retail.

While companies’ reasons for slimming their staff vary, the cost-cutting measures are coming amid a backdrop of technological change. In a recent World Economic Forum survey, some 41% of companies worldwide said they were expecting to reduce their workforces over the next five years because of the rise of artificial intelligence.

Companies such as Dropbox, Google, and IBM have previously announced job cuts related to AI. Tech jobs in busig data, fintech, and AI are meanwhile expected to double by 2030, according to the WEF.

Here are the companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2025 so far.

Meta

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees the company is targeting “low-performers,” B-17 reported on Jan 14.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told staff he “decided to raise the bar on performance management” and will act quickly to “move out low-performers,” according to an internal memo seen by B-17.

In a post on the company’s internal communications platform, he said Meta will make “more extensive performance-based cuts” in this year’s performance review cycle. Impacted US employees will be notified on February 10, he wrote.

The company has laid off more than 21,000 workers since 2022.

BlackRock is cutting 1% of its workforce.

BlackRock was recently reported to be planning layoffs.

BlackRock told employees it was planning to cut about 200 people of its 21,000-strong workforce, according to Bloomberg.

The reductions are more than offset by some 3,750 workers who were added last year and another 2,000 expected to be added in 2025.

BlackRock’s president, Rob Kapito, and its chief operating officer, Rob Goldstein, said the cuts would help realign the firm’s resources with its strategy, Bloomberg reported.

Bridgewater has cut about 90 staff.

Bridgewater’s layoffs will return its head count to where it was in 2023, a person familiar with the matter said.

Bridgewater Associates cut 7% of its staff in January in an effort to stay lean, a person familiar with the matter told B-17.

The layoffs at the world’s largest hedge fund bring its head count back to where it was in 2023, the person said.

The company’s founder, Ray Dalio, said in a 2019 interview that about 30% of new employees were leaving the firm within 18 months.

The Washington Post is cutting 4% of its non-newsroom workforce.

The Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post is conducting layoffs in January.

The Washington Post is eliminating less than 100 employees in an effort to cut costs, Reuters reported in January.

A spokesperson told the wire service that the changes would occur across multiple areas of the business and indicated that the cuts wouldn’t affect the newsroom.

“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,” the spokesperson said, according to Reuters.

Microsoft is planning an unspecified number of cuts.

Microsoft confirmed that job cuts were planned.

Microsoft is planning job cuts soon, and the company is taking a harder look at underperforming employees as part of the reductions, according to two people familiar with the plans.

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed cuts but declined to share details on the number of employees being let go.

“At Microsoft we focus on high performance talent,” the spokesperson said. “We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action.”

Ally is cutting less than 5% of workers.

Ally is laying off about 500 employees.

The digital-financial-services company Ally is laying off roughly 500 of its 11,000 employees, a spokesperson confirmed to B-17.

“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 our business,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said the company was offering severance, out-placement support, and the opportunity to apply for openings at Ally.

Ally made a similar level of cuts in October 2023, the Charlotte Observer reported.

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