Tech companies laid off 122,606 workers in all of 2025. That number has already been surpassed in 2026

Tech layoffs in 2026 have already gone past the total number of job cuts recorded for all of 2025. This comes as several well-known companies, including Google, TikTok, Etsy, and Zillow, announced new rounds of layoffs in the first week of August alone.

According to data from the layoff-tracking website Layoffs.fyi, as cited by Fast Company, tech companies laid off 122,606 workers across all of 2025. As of August 6, 2026, that number has already been crossed, with 125,759 tech workers losing their jobs so far this year.

The number of companies letting workers go is slightly lower than last year, though. Layoffs.fyi reports that 264 tech companies have laid off staff in 2026 so far, compared to 278 companies in all of 2025.

Several major companies announced layoffs within days of each other

Zillow announced the largest single job cut among the companies in early August. On August 4, CEO Jeremy Wacksman shared in a blog post that the company would lay off “just over 500 employees.” He said the layoffs “are about ensuring we have a disciplined cost structure and getting more efficient, with the right people in the right positions.”

The cuts amount to about 7% of Zillow’s total workforce. The announcement came just before the company released its Q2 2026 earnings, which showed revenue of $772 million, up 18% from the previous year. Despite this growth, Zillow reported a net loss of $4 million for the quarter. Following the news, Zillow’s stock fell more than 7% in a single day and is down more than 49% since the start of the year.

A day after Zillow’s announcement, TikTok laid off 250 employees as it closed its Nashville office. The affected workers were mainly part of the company’s content moderation team. According to the New York Times, employees were informed through emails sent on a Wednesday morning.

A TikTok spokesperson told the Times the company “decided to close our Nashville office to streamline our operations and better align our teams for long-term growth,” but did not give further details. 

The layoffs happened one day after an incident involving celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who appeared to harm himself during a TikTok livestream that was left up longer than it should have been due to what TikTok described as a moderator error. It is not confirmed that the layoffs are connected to this incident.

On the same Wednesday, online marketplace Etsy announced it was cutting around 220 jobs. CEO Kruti Patel Goyal shared the news in a letter to employees, which was later posted on Etsy’s blog. The cuts mainly affect workers on the company’s Product and Engineering team and are tied to a broader reorganization ahead of planned changes in 2027.

Goyal explained the timing of the layoffs, saying, “We didn’t want to ask teams to build those plans around an organization we already knew needed to change.” She also addressed concerns about automation, stating, “[These] decisions weren’t driven by AI. Ultimately, our future depends on the creativity, judgment, and expertise of our people.”

Etsy’s layoffs came alongside its Q2 2026 earnings report, which showed revenue of $668.3 million, a 6.2% increase from the previous year. CNBC noted that the company still faces challenges, including more competition from other online marketplaces and slower customer activity compared to levels seen during the pandemic.

Google also confirmed job cuts during this period. On August 5, a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed with Washington state’s Employment Security Department showed that Google plans to lay off 52 employees. Based on a review of the notice, the layoffs are set to take place on October 5 and will affect workers at Google offices in Kirkland, Redmond, and Seattle, along with three remote employees based in the state.

The roles affected include Software Engineering Managers, Senior Software Engineers, UX Designers, and Senior Product Managers, among others. According to the Seattle Times, Google described the cuts as a team-level reorganization rather than part of a larger, company-wide layoff round. Separately, Google has also been phasing out a Gemini-powered developer tool, giving developers a limited window to adjust.

Both Zillow and Etsy specifically said their layoffs were not driven by artificial intelligence adoption. However, rising spending on AI infrastructure by some tech companies has been cited as a factor behind cost-cutting measures elsewhere in the industry this year, as companies work to fund large AI investments. Amid this trend, Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed taxing AI companies to fund $1,000 checks for Americans, partly by seizing a share of their stock.