Tech Layoffs 2026 Near 200,000 as Microsoft Offers 60,000 Buyouts

Another wave of tech layoffs in October

With about two months left in 2026, the tech industry has already announced roughly as many job cuts as it did in all of last year, and the cuts are still coming. In the second half of October alone, Netflix, Electronic Arts and eBay announced layoffs, and Microsoft offered voluntary exit packages to tens of thousands of employees. Taken together, these announcements suggest the cost-cutting cycle that began after the pandemic hiring boom is no longer a correction. It has become a standard part of how large tech companies manage their spending.

TrueUp's tracker puts the total at 670 layoff events at tech companies so far in 2026, affecting 197,123 people, or about 655 a day.11 The tracker also reports that more than 245,000 tech workers lost their jobs in 2025.13 At the current pace, 2026 could end close to that level.

What each company announced

Netflix said on Oct. 14 that it would cut about 1,000 jobs, roughly 6% of its workforce.21 The cuts mainly hit product, technology, legal and human resources staff.21 It is the company's largest reduction since 2022.23 Coverage of the reasons differs somewhat. Netflix's co-CEOs said the business was strong and growing but that they needed to be careful with staff and resources as competition for viewers intensifies.21 Other reports point to slowing subscriber growth and a stock price down about 40% over the past year.23

Electronic Arts announced on Oct. 21 that it would cut about 400 jobs, around 3% of its staff, and close BioWare.23 Early development of the next Mass Effect game is also ending.21 The cuts come two months after EA was taken private in a $55 billion all-cash deal backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners.23 EA had earlier told investors it would reduce research and development costs as part of a plan to save more than $700 million. In that light, closing BioWare looks less like a one-time studio decision and more like the cost discipline that usually follows a leveraged buyout.

eBay is cutting about 9% of its workforce. This is its second round of layoffs this year, following about 800 cuts in February.23 Reports disagree on the exact size. Some describe about 1,000 positions23, while Crunchbase, citing Reuters, puts it at 1,100. That puts eBay's total for the year at about 1,800 to 1,900, depending on the source.21 The cuts are not a response to falling sales: eBay's second-quarter revenue rose 15% from a year earlier to $3.1 billion.23

Microsoft has made the biggest move. The company is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, as it cuts costs and spends heavily on AI. Eligible staff are on selected teams in the U.S., Canada, India and Britain, at vice-president level and below. Reports differ on which groups are excluded. One cites certain data center, sales and marketing staff, while a Reuters-based account lists marketing, commercial business and security. This is Microsoft's second buyout offer this year. About 30% of eligible staff reportedly accepted an early-retirement offer in April. Separately, Microsoft cut about 4,800 jobs in July, mostly in Xbox.23

Apple has made only small cuts. It reportedly laid off at least 60 people in its Vision Group in August, plus staff in an AI-related systems group, for an estimated total above 200. It also reportedly considered replacing about 5,000 AppleCare employees with AI but dropped the plan. That episode is a useful reminder that plans to replace workers with AI do not always go ahead.

Meta's cuts and the uncertainty for workers

Meta remains the clearest example of a company cutting staff while spending heavily on AI. In April it said it would cut about 10% of its workforce, roughly 8,000 people, and leave about 6,000 positions unfilled. Meanwhile, it expects 2026 expenses as high as $169 billion, much of it for infrastructure and pay for AI specialists.8 Meta also said it would move 7,000 employees into roles tied to AI workflows.

The effect on workers is easiest to see in Meta's case. California WARN notices covered 3,196 Bay Area employees, all effective July 22, including 2,212 at the company's Menlo Park headquarters.9 Employment lawyers have pointed out that this is well below the global total and say it raises questions about whether notice was given properly.9 That argument comes from a law firm seeking clients, so it should be read with that in mind, but the gap between the numbers is real. Meta also told staff about the cuts weeks before saying who would be affected. Business Insider describes this as a growing trend of "layoff limbo," which one Meta employee called "28 days of hell."10 An employment attorney told the outlet that early warnings like this may be meant to get people to quit voluntarily, which reduces severance costs.10

The Guardian reports that Meta and some other companies have since scaled back their layoff plans, and that it is unclear whether these cuts have actually made companies more efficient.7

How big is the 2026 total?

The tracker totals differ widely, mainly because each one counts something different:

• TrueUp counts about 197,000 affected workers worldwide.11
• Challenger, Gray & Christmas counts 165,925 announced U.S. tech job cuts from January through September, up 54% from the same period in 2025. Tech accounts for 29% of all announced U.S. job cuts this year, more than any other industry.20
• Layoffs.fyi counts 134,917 workers at 328 companies as of Oct. 21, already more than its total for all of 2025.20
• GoLayoffs counts 64,984 workers across 110 announcements.18

TechRepublic warns that these figures should not be added together and that many of them are planned cuts, not completed ones.1 The overall direction is still clear: every tracker shows 2026 matching or exceeding 2025. For perspective, CNBC TV18 notes that this year's Layoffs.fyi count is still only about half of 2023, when the post-pandemic correction peaked at 265,660 tech layoffs. So 2026 is a heavy year for tech layoffs, but not a record.

The cuts are concentrated at the largest companies. Based on GoLayoffs data, Amazon has cut the most this year at 16,820, followed by Meta at 8,705 and Microsoft at 4,800.18 By GoLayoffs' count, big tech companies account for about half of all affected workers.18

Is AI the cause?

Coverage differs most on this question. Livemint describes the wave as a large reallocation of money away from existing operations toward AI data centers and specialist hires, and argues that companies use layoffs to show investors they are improving profit margins.5 CTV News reports that Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta together are on track to spend about $700 billion on AI infrastructure this year.

More careful accounts make a narrower claim. GoLayoffs found that only 17 of the 66 tech layoff announcements with a stated reason explicitly mentioned AI.1 Company statements also differ. Microsoft's chief people officer said the July cuts were not about replacing workers with AI, while acknowledging that AI is changing how work gets done.23 HubSpot's CEO said AI-driven efficiencies did not cause its cuts, while Block directly tied its February layoffs to more capable AI tools.1

The most reasonable conclusion is that AI is mainly a reason to spend money, not yet a widespread replacement for workers. Companies are cutting payroll to pay for computing infrastructure and highly paid AI researchers. Netflix and eBay show the other pattern: companies that are still growing are cutting staff anyway, because shareholders reward smaller headcounts.

What workers should expect

The recent announcements affect gaming, streaming, e-commerce and enterprise software, and they include technical and product roles, not only administrative jobs.21 Microsoft's buyout acceptance window runs through December, so another large reduction may arrive just as the year ends. Nike has already told employees that some job decisions will come in 2027 or later.10

For workers, it now matters less whether a company is profitable and more which of its teams are still getting investment. That shift, more than any single tracker's total, may be the most lasting change for the tech workforce in 2026.