Waves of Global Layoffs
- thebrink2028
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
A crisp morning in Silicon Valley, where the sun glints off glass towers, and dreams of innovation hum through the air. Sarah, a software engineer with a decade of experience, sips her coffee, unaware that her inbox holds a chilling email: her position at a tech giant has been "eliminated." Across the globe, in a bustling Mumbai office, Raghav, a product manager, faces a similar fate, his team dissolved in a quiet restructuring. These aren’t isolated stories, they’re just some of the many layoffs sweeping through 2025, a storm few saw coming in its ferocity.
TheBrink, shares the undercurrents of these changes, uncovering the truths hidden beneath corporate press releases and polished posts. From tech titans to small startups, the layoffs are relentless, and the reasons are more complex than the news lets on.
The Tech Purge: Big Players, Bigger Cuts
The tech sector, once a star of endless opportunity, is bleeding jobs. Meta’s 2025 layoffs, targeting 4,000 employees deemed “low performers,” set a chilling precedent. Zuckerberg’s internal memo, as reported in February 2025, framed it as a performance-driven cull, but insiders whisper a different story: cost-cutting and AI integration are the real drivers. Teams in Facebook’s core operations, Horizon’s virtual reality platform, and logistics were hit hardest. Since 2022, Meta has shed over 25,000 jobs, a staggering figure for a company once synonymous with growth.
Microsoft, too, joined the fray, slashing 9,000 jobs in July 2025, affecting gaming, Azure, and administrative roles. No severance, no benefits, an abrupt end for many. Google cut hundreds in Cloud, Pixel, and HR, while Amazon axed 14,000 leadership and device roles, part of a broader 27,000+ reduction. IBM replaced 8,000 jobs with AI systems, and Intel announced 5,500 layoffs, with whispers of up to 24,000 planned as tariffs and market slowdowns bite.
Beyond Tech:
The layoffs aren’t confined to Silicon Valley. In Japan, Nissan is slashing 20,000 jobs by 2027, closing seven factories as U.S. tariffs and collapsing Chinese sales erode profits. Burberry, the British luxury brand, cut 1,700 jobs in May 2025, citing a £100 million cost-saving plan. Bumble, the dating app, shed 240 roles, 30% of its workforce, while Microchip Technology eliminated 2,000 jobs, closing its Tempe, Arizona facility by May 2025 due to sluggish orders.
Smaller companies, invisible to mainstream media, are also crumbling. A stealth-mode AI startup in Bangalore, backed by U.S. venture capital, quietly laid off 80% of its 200-person team in June 2025 after funding dried up. In Berlin, a renewable energy startup shuttered its doors, leaving 150 engineers jobless after a key EU grant was redirected to a competitor. These stories rarely make headlines but hit communities hard.
AI, Tariffs, and Performance Myths
Why now? The surface narrative, cost-cutting and performance reviews, hides deeper forces. AI is reshaping work at an unprecedented pace. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella admitted in April 2025 that 30% of the company’s code is AI-generated, reducing the need for human engineers. LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, cut 281 jobs in California, with software engineers bearing the brunt as AI tools take over coding tasks. This isn’t just efficiency; it’s a structural shift, with AI collapsing traditional operating models.
Global trade tensions are pouring fuel on the fire. U.S. tariffs under the second Trump administration have gutted companies like Nissan, while Brexit’s fallout and new EU regulations squeeze European firms. The “low-performer” label, used by Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, is mostly a smokescreen. Insiders at Meta say many laid-off workers had glowing performance reviews, suggesting the label is a PR ploy to mask strategic pivots to AI and metaverse bets.
Behind the numbers are people like Sarah and Arjun. A Meta engineer in San Francisco shared on how her team’s project was scrapped, not for poor work but because it didn’t fit the company’s AI-first vision. In London, a Burberry designer shared about the heartbreak of losing her “dream job” to corporate cost-cutting. These stories, amplified through the #opentowork hashtag, show resilience in the face of betrayal.
At TheBrink, we believe in building communities first, then co-creating solutions with you. Here’s how to get involved:
Share Your Story: Drop your experiences or insights in the comments. What’s happening in your industry or city? Your voice inspires others to come forward.
Upskill Together: AI is reshaping work, so let’s master what is needed.
Network with Purpose: Build or join local job-seeker networks. Make or Use platforms to connect, not just post. We’re launching a TheBrink job board suggest features you need.
Advocate for Change: Demand transparency from companies on layoffs. Support policies like severance mandates or AI transition training to protect workers.
What Happens Next?
The layoff wave won’t stop soon. AI adoption could displace 30% or more of tech jobs. Tariffs and economic uncertainty will keep squeezing manufacturing and retail. Workers must pivot to hybrid skills, technical know-how paired with creativity and emotional intelligence, where AI is still behind.
Our Sponsor
A heartfelt thank you to Aisha (name changed), a data scientist from Bangalore, for sponsoring this article. After surviving two tech layoffs, Aisha funded this piece to shine a light on job loss stories and inspire collective resilience.
-Chetan Desai for TheBrink2028
