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Layoffs are continuing to mount across the tech industry as Netflix and eBay become the latest major companies to cut their workforces.
Netflix is laying off roughly 1,000 employees, or about 6 percent of its global workforce, with the cuts largely affecting product, technology, legal and human resources teams.
eBay, meanwhile, is cutting about 1,000 positions, or approximately 9 percent of its workforce, following an earlier round of around 800 job cuts in February.
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While tech companies are cutting jobs at an elevated rate, nationwide layoff numbers remain relatively low. At the same time, hiring has slowed sharply, leaving the country in what economists have characterized as a "low-hire, low-fire" labor market.
“The larger economy is seeing GDP growth driven in part by the AI buildout, which includes many of these tech companies and their investments,” Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek. “However, investment comes at a cost, as many of these same players may be contributing to their own demise by continually training AI to scale and replace fungible positions.”
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Why It Matters
The latest announcements add Netflix and eBay to a lengthy list of tech companies that have reduced their workforces this year as businesses restructure their operations and look to control costs.
Across the board, technology companies announced 165,925 job cuts through September, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That was 54 percent higher than the 107,878 announced over the same period in 2025.
Tech also accounted for 29 percent of all U.S. job cuts announced through September, more than any other industry.
Layoffs Hit Netflix, eBay: What We Know
Layoffs across the economy as a whole have actually declined from last year's levels.
U.S.-based employers announced 573,195 job cuts from January through September, down 39 percent from 946,426 during the same period of 2025, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. And even excluding the government sector, which heavily affected the year-over-year comparison, announced cuts were down 15 percent.
However, the tech industry’s story has played out differently
Netflix announced approximately 1,000 layoffs this month, its largest round of job cuts since 2022.
"Our mission - to entertain the world - is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in a memo to employees. "Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full year forecast.”
eBay is separately cutting around 1,000 jobs.
"As we work to capture the significant opportunity ahead, this step was taken to ensure we continue to operate from a position of strength by aligning our teams and resources with our top strategic priorities," an eBay spokesperson said.
Together, the company's two rounds amount to around 1,800 positions during 2026.
“Companies like Netflix and eBay were some of the biggest beneficiaries during the pandemic years,” Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek. “As tens of millions of working adults spent the vast majority of their time at home, they leaned into online shopping and streaming services, producing massive growth for companies in those industries. Just a few years later, though, that monumental growth is stalling, and these same companies are looking to scale back.”
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Other Major Tech Layoffs in 2026
The two companies are far from alone in their recent layoffs.
Oracle's annual financial disclosure showed its workforce had declined by 21,000 positions over the previous year, or around 13 percent.
The company explicitly acknowledged the potential effect of AI on employment, saying that “the adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce."
Amazon also announced about 16,000 corporate layoffs in January, as part of an effort the company described as reducing organizational layers and bureaucracy.
Electronic Arts (EA) similarly announced about 400 layoffs, or roughly 3 percent of its workforce, as part of a restructuring that includes the closure of BioWare.
Meanwhile, the AI startup Character.AI filed for bankruptcy, and 66 employees were offered jobs at Disney, with 56 having already resigned from Character.AI by mid-October.
Block also announced plans in February to cut roughly 4,000 jobs, while Microsoft subsequently announced a round affecting around 4,800 positions, largely associated with its Xbox gaming business.
In October specifically, HubSpot announced reductions affecting roughly 660 workers, or 7 percent of its workforce, while Flock Safety said it would reduce staffing by approximately 270 employees, or 18 percent.
“Tech companies often have to shift and prioritize shareholder value, which means moving quickly into new areas of growth,” Thompson said. “The environment is moving at a breakneck pace, and as overall growth is seemingly tied to AI and AI initiatives, you are seeing companies move in that direction while cutting staff.”
A running TrueUp tally reported that more than 190,000 technology jobs have been eliminated in 2026.
Despite this, new applications for unemployment benefits actually fell to 194,000 in the week ending October 17, down 6,000 from the previous week's revised level and close to their lowest levels in decades, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
So while major companies are regularly announcing layoffs, particularly in tech, nationwide layoffs remain low.
Why Is the Job Market Bad Right Now?
Despite the nationwide layoff numbers remaining low, there are still many signals that the job market has weakened.
The U.S. added just 29,000 nonfarm jobs in September, while the unemployment rate stood at 4.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 7.1 million unemployed Americans.
Meanwhile, job openings stood at 7.1 million in August, and employers made approximately 5.2 million hires. Meanwhile, 3.1 million people quit their jobs and layoffs and discharges totaled 1.6 million.
However, concerning the workers who lose their jobs, 1.9 million Americans had been unemployed for at least 27 weeks in September. That’s roughly 27.1 percent of all unemployed people.
HR consultant Bryan Driscoll said it’s especially easy for companies focused on cutting costs to use AI as a “scapegoat.”
“Now there's AI, which is a great scapegoat for companies, in an effort to get more work out of fewer people while raking in higher profits. Some jobs will genuinely change because of AI. But not every layoff is because of innovation. It's just cost-cutting,” Driscoll told Newsweek.
He said white collar, middle managers, and admin employees are particularly exposed.
“These are people who were told to get degrees, build careers, work hard, and they'll be fine. Turns out job security was another corporate benefit that's gone away, if it ever really existed at all,” Driscoll added.
Meanwhile, the divide between technology and the broader economy will be important to watch, experts say.
“Tech is highly cyclical, and we should continue to expect layoffs in this space, especially if interest rates continue to climb,” Thompson said.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Anthony Murray and Jason Lemon.
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