Dell laid off an unspecified number of employees on Tuesday, marking its second mass layoff in the past 15 months. The cuts were made in the sales and marketing divisions as the company pivoted toward artificial intelligence.
Dell executives announced the layoffs in an internal memo, according to Bloomberg. The company did not confirm how many workers would lose their jobs, but a report from SiliconAngle estimates the number at around 12,500, citing an unnamed source. A layoff tracker reports the same number. As of February, Dell had about 120,000 employees; if the reported number is accurate, this week’s layoffs will amount to roughly 10 percent of the workforce.
🚨 LAYOFF ALERT – 🌏
Dell Technologies Inc. is cutting jobs as part of a reorganization of its sales teams, impacting 12,500 employees approximately, as the company aims to become leaner. pic.twitter.com/oJpZH1Ww92
— The Layoff Tracker 🚨 (@WhatLayoff) August 5, 2024
In the internal memo, Bill Scannell, president of global sales and operations, and John Byrne, president of sales for Global Theaters and Dell Technologies Direct, reportedly told employees, “We are getting leaner. We’re streamlining layers of management and reprioritizing where we invest.”
An outpouring followed on social media, including the professional networking service LinkedIn and Reddit. Employees wrote about feeling a mix of anger and uncertainty about what’s coming next, given the ongoing mass layoffs in the tech industry. A former Dell employee compared this week’s layoffs at Dell to a “bloodbath” on LinkedIn. Another former employee said he was laid off after spending 24 years at Dell.
“I received a meeting invite late on Friday and was laid off this morning,” a former Dell employee who was part of the mass layoffs wrote on Reddit.
The Dell cuts are a continuation of the layoffs from the last fiscal year, during which 13,000 employees lost their jobs. Dell isn’t the only tech company laying off workers. Last week, Intel announced plans to eliminate 15,000 jobs this year. These job cuts are part of a larger trend in the tech industry that began last year and continues into this year.
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