25 Companies Laying Off the Most People Thanks to Coronavirus
Over 57 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic first made waves stateside in mid-March. The cuts have affected employees at companies both big and small, especially those in the leisure and hospitality and retail industries.
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Last updated: Feb. 25, 2021
Airbnb
Number of layoffs: 1,900
Airbnb announced in May that it would lay off nearly 1,900 employees around the world — roughly 25% of its workforce — as its business continued to suffer from a decline in travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Business Insider reported.
Allstate
Number of layoffs: 3,800
In September, Allstate, one of America’s largest home and automobile insurance companies, announced that it would lay off 8% of its employees. The cuts affected employees who worked in claims, support, and sales positions.
American Airlines
Number of layoffs: 40,000
In August, the world’s largest airline said that it needed to reduce its workforce by “at least” 40,000 employees according to CNN. 12,000 employees agreed to leave the company voluntarily via buyout and early retirement packages. 11,000 people agreed to be furloughed starting in October, when federal payroll aid would run out. But even with those sacrifices, leadership said further cuts would need to be made.
Though no formal numbers have been released, American leadership said that 19,000 more people would have to be “involuntarily furloughed or separated from the company” once the federal aid expired on October first.
AT&T
Number of layoffs: 3,454
AT&T laid off 3,400 employees in June and an additional 54 people in its marketing division in August, Business Insider reported.
Boeing
Number of layoffs: 26,000
Boeing Co. announced in July that 19,000 employees would be laid off, and in August, the company said that it planned to cut even more jobs in response to a pandemic-driven drop in jetliner demand. The drop is expected to continue for at least three years, The Wall Street Journal reported. Boeing offered an unspecified number of buyouts to employees.
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Chevron
Number of layoffs: 4,500-6,750
Chevron announced in May that it would cut 10% to 15% of its worldwide workforce — which includes 45,000 employees — to “match projected activity levels,” spokeswoman Veronica Flores-Paniagua told Reuters. The cuts are a result of plummeting oil prices and lower demand for oil and gas due to the pandemic.
Cineworld
Number of Layoffs: 45,000
In October, Cineworld, the second-largest movie theater chain in the world, closed every one of its locations across the globe, leaving 45,000 employees out of a job. According to the company’s leadership, the closure is temporary, but there are no plans for a reopening as of yet.
Citigroup
Number of layoffs: 2,040
Citigroup announced in September that it would resume job cuts after putting layoffs on pause during the height of the pandemic, Bloomberg reported. The cuts will affect less than 1% of the bank’s global workforce.
Disney
Number of layoffs: 28,000
In September, Disney said it would have to lay off 28,000 employees across its parks and resorts due to lost profits amid the COVID-19 shutdowns and subsequent limited reopening.
Currently, Disneyland remains closed while Disney World has reopened with some limitations. Approximately 67% percent of the laid off employees were part-time workers.
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Exxon Mobil
Number of layoffs: 1,900-14,000
The oil and gas giant has said it expects to cut approximately 15% of its workforce worldwide, the Wall Street Journal reports. That includes cutting 1,900 jobs in the United States over the next year.
By the end of 2021, the company expects to lay off 14,000 employees and contractors. According to the Wall Street Journal, the layoffs in America will primarily come from the company’s management offices in Houston.
Ford
Number of layoffs: 1,400
As Ford worked to bounce back from coronavirus-related factory closures earlier in the year, the carmaker offered buyouts to certain salaried employees who are eligible for retirement as of Dec. 31, according to an early September memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Ford — which has about 30,000 salaried U.S. workers — hoped to trim about 1,400 employees through the buyouts.
Hertz
Number of layoffs: 10,000
In April, Hertz laid off 10,000 employees across its North America operations to cut costs as it continued to suffer from the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. Hertz had about 38,000 employees as of the end of 2019, including 29,000 in the U.S.
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Hilton Hotels
Number of layoffs: 2,100
Hilton Hotels announced in June that it would be laying off 2,100 employees — roughly 22% of its corporate workforce — as the coronavirus pandemic continued to take a toll on the demand for leisure and business travel, CNN reported.
“Never in Hilton’s 101-year history has our industry faced a global crisis that brings travel to a virtual standstill,” CEO Christopher Nassetta said in a press release.
Macy's
Number of layoffs: Over 3,900
As part of a June restructuring effort, Macy’s eliminated approximately 3,900 corporate and management jobs, Business Insider reported. It also cut jobs elsewhere, including at stores, throughout its supply chain and in its customer support network.
MGM Resorts
Number of layoffs: 18,000
In late August, MGM Hotels laid off 18,000 employees who were previously furloughed, CNBC reported. At the time of the layoffs, MGM’s Empire City in Yonkers, New York and Park MGM in Las Vegas remained closed.
NBCUniversal
Number of layoffs: Under 3,500
NBCUniversal began making staff cuts across its entertainment portfolio — including its sports and cable channels, broadcast networks, movie studio and theme parks — in August, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
The layoffs were not unexpected. Revenue at NBCUniversal declined 25% in the second quarter of the year as a result of theme park closures, the postponement of movie releases and a loss of advertising dollars at its TV properties. A source said that less than 10% of the company’s 35,000 full-time employees would be affected by the cuts.
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Raytheon Technologies
Number of layoffs: 20,000
The aerospace supplier announced that it would cut 15,000 jobs earlier this year. The company upped that number to 20,000, however, due to the fact that the aviation industry continues to be hit hard by the pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Schlumberger
Number of layoffs: 21,000
Chevron and Exxon Mobil aren’t the only oil company to make major cuts amid the pandemic. Schlumberger, the world’s largest oil-field services company, cut about 21,000 jobs as oil producers decreased spending in response to a historic drop in prices, The Wall Street Journal reported. The job cuts represented roughly one-fifth of the company’s workforce.
Sephora
Number of layoffs: 3,000
After closing all of its U.S. stores the previous month, Sephora laid off over 3,000 employees across the country in April. Layoffs affected those who had been with the company for a short tenure and worked limited hours, Business Insider reported.
Southwest
Number of layoffs: About 17,000
Southwest encouraged employees to accept voluntary departure deals in the hopes of avoiding involuntary furloughs when government bailout funds ran out in the fall, Reuters reported.
The airline said it would accept applications from 4,400 employees for early retirement and evaluate nearly 12,500 requests for extended time off packages. In all, 28% of its workforce requested voluntary departure deals.
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Uber
Number of layoffs: 6,700
Uber had two major rounds of layoffs due to a decline in ride-hailing use. Just weeks after announcing that the company had cut 3,700 jobs — 14% of its workforce — CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced in mid-May that he would be cutting an additional 3,000 jobs and closing 45 offices.
United Airlines
Number of layoffs: 13,000
In July, United Airlines notified 3,400 management and administrative employees that their jobs were being eliminated, effective Oct. 1, the Chicago Tribune reported. The cut represents 30% of its management and administrative employees.
“We have to acknowledge that there will be serious consequences to our company if we don’t continue to take strong and decisive action, which includes making decisions that none of us ever wanted or expected to make,” Kate Gebo, the airline’s executive vice president of human resources and labor relations, said in a memo to employees.
That number ballooned to 13,000 when federal payroll aid ran out in October. Scott Kirby, the airline’s CEO said the decision to cut so many jobs was a “very sad day for all of us here at United.”
Virgin Atlantic
Number of layoffs: 4,300
Virgin Atlantic has also felt the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.K.-based airline announced in May that it would cut 3,150 jobs, Business Insider reported.
Walgreens
Number of layoffs: 4,000
In July, Walgreens announced plans to cut about 4,000 jobs in the U.K. following a sharp drop in its business there, Bloomberg reported. The company said it expected full-year adjusted earnings between $4.65 to $4.75 a share, below the $5.43 a share analysts were expecting.
WarnerMedia
Number of layoffs: 1,850-2,350
As part of a “streamlining effort,” WarnerMedia cut 600 staffers, including a number of senior-level employees, Deadline reported in August. Among the senior-level employees who were cut are Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, president of Warner Bros Worldwide Television Distribution; Ron Sanders, president of Worldwide Theatrical Distribution & Home Entertainment; and Warner Bros Entertainment CFO Kim Williams.
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