5 Blue Chips That Have Announced Layoffs in 2026

2026 has been peppered with numerous high-profile announcements of layoffs by some of the country's largest employers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a commonly cited culprit, but there's been some skepticism about how much the technology is really to blame. While some companies are clearly ramping up spend  on AI investment, a few experts say that some companies shedding jobs are making up for sloppy overhiring from the past couple of years—that CEOs are pointing the finger at technology instead of themselves.

Other factors are to blame, too. Mass layoffs are being tied to limping financial results, operational pivots, and mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) events.

Read on as I point to some noteworthy recent layoffs from some of the market's biggest blue chips.

5 Recent Mass Layoff Announcements

This is a shorter version of our roundup of mass layoffs at large companies. 

The companies outlined below have announced job cuts in the thousands (or even the tens of thousands) of roles. They are ordered by number of jobs affected, from least to most.

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Nike

Total jobs affected: 2,175

Nike (NKE) has already announced two rounds of layoffs in 2026. 

The first came late January, when the athletic footwear and apparel company stated it planned to lay off 775 employees across Mississippi and Tennessee. 

The second was announced in a staff memo on April 23. In it, Nike said it's cutting about 1,400 jobs, mainly from the technology department. However, this layoff will affect not just the U.S., but other parts of North America, as well as Asia and Europe. 

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PayPal

Total jobs affected: 4,760

In May, financial technology giant PayPal Holdings (PYPL) announced it was going to cut roughly 20% of its workforce, or about 4,760 roles.

The move, which would take place over the next two to three years, was announced alongside a broader reorganization in the hopes of saving $1.5 billion in gross run-rate savings over that time period. 

In addition to saving costs, the company also said it wanted to accelerate its adoption of AI. Indeed, in the same release, the company announced the appointment of Anshu Bhardwaj as Chief AI Transformation & Simplification Officer.

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Meta Platforms

Total jobs affected: 8,000

Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms (META) announced it would be laying off roughly 10% of its workforce, with the stated goal of offsetting "other investments we're making," specifically in artificial intelligence.

The cuts, which are expected to take effect in May, come as the company plans to spend between $125 billion to $145 billion, much of which is earmarked for AI. Meta is drastically shrinking its teams; in some cases, the company claims just one or two people using AI are reproducing what previously required dozens of engineers.

Morale at the company appears to be plummeting, according to a New York Times report:

"Some employees have since shared layoff guides and nihilistic memes. 'It do not matter,' read one meme shared internally. Employees have created at least three websites counting down to the May 20 layoffs, with one website's header reading: 'Big Beautiful Layoff,' a play on the 2025 domestic policy law that President Trump called the 'One Big Beautiful Bill.'"

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Amazon

Total jobs affected: 16,000

This January, Amazon (AMZN) announced it was eliminating 16,000 corporate jobs around the world. 

That comes a mere three months after a 14,000-role round of cuts in October. The company also made smaller cuts across different parts of the organization in 2024, but it laid off more than 27,000 employees across 2022 and 2023.

This year's cuts were chalked up to "removing bureaucracy," but they also come alongside a push to invest even more heavily in AI. 

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Oracle

Total jobs affected: 20,000 to 30,000

Database and cloud firm Oracle (ORCL) delivered one of the highest-profile job cuts of the year, not via a traditional announcement, but a 6 a.m. email to affected employees that started:

"We are sharing some difficult news regarding your position.

After careful consideration of Oracle's current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change. As a result, today is your last working day.

We are grateful for your dedication, hard work, and the impact you have made during your time with us."

The company didn't make an official announcement with a concrete headcount number, but TD Cowen estimated the layoffs at about 20,000 and 30,000 positions, which would represent between 12% to 18% of its global workforce.

The announcement came just weeks after the company announced a 95% year-over-year jump in quarterly income, to $6.1 billion. It also comes amid the company's heavy capital expenditures on artificial intelligence infrastructure.

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