Twitter Layoffs: As Twitter and Meta announce worrying job cuts, here’s the state of affairs at Ireland’s main Big Tech companies

Employees: 6,000

Cuts: None

Cork’s largest employer is Ireland’s blue-chip tech multinationals. But it’s not immune to broader economic austerity.

This week, a Bloomberg piece reported that “weaker demand” will result in Apple shipping fewer iPhone 14 devices than originally planned as the world contracts to cope with inflation, energy shocks and higher interest rates.

Separately, the company itself announced a cut in its iPhone 14 Pro production due to restrictions in Chinese factories.

As for the workforce in Cork, Apple has reportedly decided to freeze hiring across the company for next year, but there’s no sign of any downsizing just yet. A spokesman declined to comment Irish Independent.

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2.Google

Employees: 9,000 (4,500 employees)

Cuts: None

Google is the largest tech employer in Ireland and one of the largest private companies in Dublin. So far, there hasn’t been any indication of a cut beyond weakening his hiring drive.

Six weeks ago, Google Ireland boss Adaire Fox-Martin told the Irish Independent she had no intention of downsizing.

A company spokesman repeated this in the past few days.

However, that does not mean that it will continue to adjust as before. Company sources point to a slowdown in recruitment; some call it “break”. Of all the tech giants in Dublin, this is the tentpole: if it changes course and starts cutting, we know it’s going to get worse.

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3.Meta

Employees: 6,000 (3,000 employees)

Cuts: Some expected
After Google, Meta is arguably the second most important tech employer in Dublin. But it’s now poised for some layoffs in some departments, with the company expected to clarify who, what and where later this week. Meta is more affected by market shifts than almost any other big tech company.

It has been slammed by TikTok running away with new social media growth. But it also has a significant impact on the changes Apple is rolling out that allow iPhone users to easily block apps from tracking them across the web. That has cost the company billions in advertising revenue, its own main source of income.

It’s been exactly one year to the week since Facebook changed its name to Meta. In that time, the company has lost over 70 percent of its market value – an incredible 630 billion euros.

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4.Tweet

Employees: 520

​​​​​​Slices: 150-250

The ax has fallen its hardest on Twitter, with entire departments gutted.

Elon Musk’s company has severed key teams including Trust and Security, Curation, Transparency, Machine Learning Ethics and Human Rights. It remains to be seen how many of these the company will need to rehire to keep the service running smoothly in the coming weeks and months.

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5.Intel

Employees: 5,000

Cuts: Some expected

One of the country’s most respected high-tech employers sees waves of expansion and occasional contraction. Kildare’s 5,000 employees are currently waiting to hear how many of them may be affected by the company’s recent statement that it will be laying off some staff. Intel has had a rough time in recent years and is still paying for being left behind in smartphones. It has made some big bets on new plants and factories, but mostly outside of Ireland: Germany was the big winner in its recent investment announcement.

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6th working day

Employees: 1,700

Cuts: None (set 1,000)

In April, enterprise software firm Workday said it plans to hire an additional 1,000 people on top of the 1,700 it already employs here. Has anything changed?

“It’s business as usual,” said a company representative Irish Independent. “Since announcing plans to create 1,000 new jobs in Dublin, we have increased hiring and are on track to meet our growth target. We remain focused on strategically investing in the right roles and currently have many vacancies in Dublin.”

7.Microsoft

Employees: 3,500

Cuts: None

Microsoft is said to cut around 1,000 jobs worldwide, but has not yet specified where.

Dublin is one of the few locations where most Microsoft departments are located. So if it decreases, it seems unlikely that the Irish branch will remain unaffected. However, he said so Irish Independent that no cuts are planned and that the Irish workforce could even grow next year.

8.Amazon

Employees: 2,500 people

Cuts: Unlikely

While Amazon recently announced it won’t be hiring new executives, it recently opened and is still hiring for a massive new warehouse in Dublin’s Baldonnell Business Park.

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9. Tiktok

Employees: 2,000

Cuts: None (set 1,000)

The fastest-growing social media platform announced over the summer that it was adding 1,000 new jobs to its current workforce of 2,000. Speaking of Irish Independent This week, TikTok confirmed that this remains the current process and that recent industry layoffs have not affected its plans.

TikTok might be one of the exceptions to the tech slowdown rule, as it outperforms competitors like Instagram and rakes in big ad chunks from meta and snap.

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10. PayPal

Employees: 2,000

Cuts: 300 this year

PayPal has already announced it will cut 307 jobs at its Dundalk and Dublin operations, leaving around 2,000 workers. So far there is no evidence of further cuts. The company got some boost from the pandemic’s boost to online shopping, but has seen competitors like Stripe and Adyen enter a market it once threatened to dominate.

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11. Stripes

Employees: 550 (Dublin)

Cuts: Probably

Although Stripe has far fewer employees in its Dublin office than many other multinational tech companies, it ranks among the top tech companies here for two reasons.

First, it is run by Limerick brothers Patrick and John Collison, who have made it a joint global headquarters. Second, it has publicly stated its intention to expand the office to a staff of around 2,000, between the jobs supported by IDA Ireland and its own expansion plan.

That appeared to have gone haywire last week, when the payments firm said it had “overestimated” the market and was laying off 14 per cent of its workforce, equivalent to about 1,000 jobs, including some at the Dublin office. However, the company has since reiterated that the Dublin office remains part of its long-term plans.