From banks to tech: Microsoft latest to announce job cuts, layoffs for 2025

Business Times

8 hours ago

[SINGAPORE] In 2025, a growing number of corporations globally have announced job cuts, as macroeconomic pressures, restructuring efforts, and shifting strategies force companies to trim their workforces.
The latest development took place on Wednesday (Jul 2), when Microsoft announced it is carrying out a round of layoffs globally.
Here are some of the job cuts in 2025 so far, including those in Singapore:
Technology
Microsoft
The tech giant will lay off nearly 4 per cent of its workforce, or about 9,000 people. This is the second time this year it is cutting headcount – the first was in May, which affected about 6,000 employees.
The company had about 228,000 employees worldwide as at June 2024. It said it was looking to reduce costs amid huge investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
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It plans to reduce layers with fewer managers and streamline its products, procedures and roles.
Intel
As part of a move to streamline management and rebuild an engineering-driven culture, Intel announced plans to cut more than 20 per cent of its staff on Apr 23. In a similar cutback in 2024, Intel slashed 15,000 jobs.
Microsoft
Microsoft announced its first round of 2025 layoffs in May, which affected 6,000 people largely in product and engineering positions.
Meta
Meta Platforms was said to be laying off more than 100 people across its Reality Labs division focused on creating virtual reality (VR) and wearable devices on Apr 25, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
The latest round of job cuts impacted Reality Labs staff focused on creating VR experiences for Meta's Quest headsets, as well as operations-focused employees working on hardware, as Meta leadership sought to streamline similar work being done across two different teams within Reality Labs.
Earlier this year, Meta cut roughly 5 per cent of staff – about 3,600 people – in what was described as performance-based terminations.
Finance and banking
Standard Chartered
The move to offshore jobs to India has affected about 80 Singapore-based employees whose roles are from the bank's technology and operations teams according to a report in The Straits Times on Thursday (Jun 19).
HSBC
Some of its investment bankers were placed on short-term retention agreements in March as it wound down various businesses in a broad overhaul led by new chief executive officer Georges Elhedery.
In some cases, the bankers were on three- to six-month work arrangements to finish client mandates across Europe, Asia and the Americas, after the lender said it would shutter selective investment-banking units.
The plan also included cutting many vice-chair roles in various markets, though it is not clear how many bankers were affected.
Barclays
Its investment bank division announced on Jun 9 that it was preparing to cut more than 200 jobs as part of chief executive officer CS Venkatakrishnan's plan to boost its profitability.
Staffers in investment banking, global markets and research will likely be affected and managing directors will be the most senior roles affected. The reduction represents about 3 per cent of the investment bank's headcount.
Venkatakrishnan set out a new strategy last year that anticipated about £2 billion (S$3.5 billion) of efficiency savings across the bank by 2026, helping to boost earnings and return £10 billion to investors.
Citi
Citigroup announced on May 16 that it was cutting up to 200 information technology (IT) contractor roles in China, as the bank looks to hire its own staff globally for such operations to improve risk management and data governance.
On Jun 5, Citigroup also said it will reduce the number of employees at two of its technology centres in China by about 3,500 as it pushes to simplify and shrink global tech operations to improve risk and data management.
The reduction of staff at the China Citi Solution Centres in Shanghai and Dalian is expected to be completed by the start of the fourth quarter this year, it said.
Electronics
Siemens
The industrial giant announced on Mar 18 that it planned to cut over 6,000 jobs worldwide due to weak demand and increasing competition in China and in its home market.
About 5,600 of the job cuts will be made by 2027 in the automation business, which supplies robotics, other machinery and industrial software to factories, with about half the roles lost in Germany.
In its vehicle charging business, the group plans to cut 450 positions from a total of 1,300 employed in the operation worldwide by the end of the current financial year.
The company was unable to confirm whether, or how, the workers in its Singapore office will be affected, a spokesperson for Siemens Singapore told The Business Times on Mar 19.
But a new Tuas factory, scheduled to begin operations in 2025 or 2026, will not be affected. The facility will allow Siemens to 'even better serve the growing South-east Asian markets', the spokesperson said.
Panasonic
On May 9, Japanese electronics giant Panasonic said it was targeting 10,000 job cuts worldwide as part of efforts to boost productivity among its workforce.
'This measure targets 10,000 employees (5,000 in Japan and 5,000 overseas) at consolidated companies,' it said. The figure represents around four per cent of the firm's total workforce of nearly 230,000.
The cuts will be implemented mainly in the financial year ending in March, it said.
STMicro
Microelectronics expects 5,000 staff to leave the company in the next three years, including 2,800 job cuts announced earlier this year, its chief executive Jean-Marc Chery said on Jun 4.
Transport
Jetstar Asia
Australian flag carrier Qantas will wind down the operations of its Singapore-based unit Jetstar Asia and shut it down on Jul 31, as rising costs threaten the sustainability of its business, said Jetstar Asia in a Jun 11 statement.
The move sees more than 500 employees retrenched.
Nissan
The Japanese automaker said on May 12 that it was looking to slash more than 10,000 jobs globally, bringing the total cuts including previously announced layoffs to about 20,000 or 15 per cent of its workforce.
Volvo
Volvo Cars said on May 7 that it would make production changes and cut five per cent of the workforce at its Charleston plant in the United States due to changing market conditions and evolving trade policies, including tariffs.
A spokesperson said the changes would affect about 125 of the 2,500 employees at its factory in South Carolina.
Volkswagen
The German automaker said on Jun 3 that about 20,000 employees will voluntarily leave the company by the end of the decade. This comes as the carmaker restructures its German operations to cope with uneven demand for its vehicles.
Retail And Consumer Goods
Nike
The world's largest sportswear retailer, Nike, is downsizing its technology division as management resets priorities, with plans to shift some of the work to third-party vendors as announced on May 20.
This aligns with Nike chief executive officer Elliott Hill's goals of sparking a rebound at Nike after leaning too heavily on lifestyle products and alienating retail partners.
However, Nike is still facing headwinds from US President Donald Trump's trade war combined with uneven spending by US consumers despite its new focus on sports and wholesale channels.
Adidas
German sportswear giant Adidas announced up to 500 job cuts on Mar 5, primarily affecting staff at Adidas' headquarters in Herzogenaurach according to chief executive officer Bjorn Gulden.
Procter & Gamble
The consumer goods giant said on Jun 5 that it would cut 7,000 jobs, or about 6 per cent of its total workforce over the next two years, as it navigates uneven demand due to tariff uncertainty.
The company had about 108,000 employees as of June last year and said the job cuts would account for roughly 15 per cent of its non-manufacturing workforce.
P&G has so far stayed silent about how its planned job cuts will affect its operations in Singapore.
The company employs some 2,300 people in Singapore, which is home to its Asia-Pacific headquarters and a major research-and-development facility.
Burberry
Burberry Group announced plans on May 14 to cut almost a fifth of its workforce as its new chief executive officer Joshua Schulman tries to turn around the British trench-coat maker, after its push into high fashion flopped amid slumping global demand for luxury goods.
Most job cuts will be office roles in the UK, Schulman said, though global retail positions will be affected.
Hasbro
In light of higher tariffs on toys from China from US President Donald Trump, Hasbro has cut 3 per cent of its global workforce, amounting to about 150 employees on Jun 18.
As Hasbro sources about half of its toys and games sold in the US from China, they have been speeding up efforts to diversify sourcing to reduce exposure to China.
Amazon
Amazon on May 14 cut about 100 jobs in its devices and services unit, which oversees the development of products such as the Kindle, Echo speakers, Alexa voice assistant and Zoox self-driving cars.
The company said the jobs represented a small number of the total for the unit and were part of its regular business review.
Disney
Walt Disney is laying off several hundred employees across its film and TV businesses.
The staff reductions began on Jun 2 and affect employees in marketing, publicity, casting and development, along with corporate financial operations, according to the company.
The latest reductions follow roughly 200 job cuts across Disney's ABC and entertainment TV networks in March. In all, the company has eliminated more than 8,000 positions in recent years as it seeks to improve profitability.
Logistics
DHL
German logistics giant DHL unveiled plans on Mar 6 to lay off about 8,000 jobs this year as part of a strategy to save more than 1 billion euros (S$1.43 billion) by 2027.
The job cuts, representing more than 1 per cent of the total workforce, will occur in the Post & Parcel Germany division.
DHL Group employs approximately 602,000 people in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. It employs 190,000 people in the Post & Parcel Germany unit.
UPS
United Parcel Service's first-quarter profit beat market estimates and the parcel delivery giant said on Apr 29 that it will cut 20,000 jobs to lower costs in an uncertain economy and in anticipation of weak volumes from its largest customer, Amazo
Others
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University said on Mar 14 that it will slash over 2,000 jobs in the US and abroad, following the termination of US$800 million in grants to the institution by the Trump administration.
This marked the biggest layoff in the university's history, involving 247 domestic US workers for the academic institution and another 1,975 positions outside the US in 44 countries.