Layoffs top 45,000
Tech layoffs have exceeded 45,000 in early 2026, with software, fintech and e‑commerce among the hardest hit and the U.S. leading cuts (rswebsols.com). Meta is now facing a lawsuit alleging its reductions disproportionately targeted older employees, adding legal and reputational risk to a wave of workforce shrinkage (techstory.in).
Layoff trackers counted roughly 45,363 tech job cuts worldwide through mid‑March 2026. (manilatimes.net)) About 9,200 of those reductions — roughly one in five — have been explicitly linked to AI adoption or automation in tracker summaries. (aidirectory.com)) The United States accounted for about 30,846 of the cuts, roughly 68% of the global total, spanning 43 U.S.-based companies. (manilatimes.net)) Industry aggregators identify software, fintech and e‑commerce as the hardest‑hit sectors, with software firms alone recording approximately 17,003 layoffs so far in 2026. (skillsyncer.com)) Major single‑company events driving the numbers include Amazon’s announcement to eliminate about 16,000 corporate roles on Jan. 28, Block’s roughly 4,000 job cuts tied to AI in late February, and Atlassian’s plan to trim about 1,600 positions. (aboutamazon.com)) Former Meta Senior Director Nicolas Franchet, 54, filed a complaint this month in San Francisco County Superior Court alleging he was flagged as a “lowest performer” after sustained strong reviews, and that employees 40+ were 1.5 times — and those 50+ 2.5 times — more likely to be included in the layoffs. (gizmodo.com)) Franchet’s suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and says he lost about $12 million in restricted stock units, while the complaint cites a watered‑down review process and a newly created “lowest performer” category — a legal theory that echoes prior age‑bias claims which produced settlements such as HP/HPE’s roughly $18 million agreement and Google’s roughly $11 million settlement in earlier cases. (gizmodo.com))
