IBM is cutting thousands of jobs this quarter, according to reports. The move comes as part of an apparent shift in focus towards higher-growth software and service fields, with shares of the company rising this year amid investor optimism over IBM’s software business.
Some US workers at International Business Machines Corp. – which had around 270,000 employees at the end of 2024 – could be affected by the job cuts, but employment in the United States is expected to stay roughly the same year over year, a company spokesperson told Bloomberg.
The spokesperson told the publication: “We routinely review our workforce through this lens and at times rebalance accordingly. In the fourth quarter we are executing an action that will impact a low single-digit percentage of our global workforce.”
More Tech Sector Layoffs
The news comes just one week after Salesforce Ben reported that Amazon would be laying off 14,000 workers, according to a memo sent to affected employees. As we wrote at the time, those layoffs appear to be taking place in conjunction with rising AI spending, with Amazon recently increasing its spending on AI data centers.
And earlier this year, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff revealed on a podcast that the company was using AI agents to replace roughly 4,000 customer support division employees. Speaking on the Logan Bartlett show, Benioff said: “I was able to rebalance my headcount on my support – I’ve reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000, because I need less heads.”
The first few months of this year set the trend for mass tech layoffs, with industry leaders like Meta, Stripe, Microsoft, and Salesforce reducing headcounts.
According to Layoffs.fyi, more than 110,000 tech sector employees have been laid off so far this year. This is still somewhat shy of the 150,000 figure for 2024, but there is, of course, still time for the 2025 figure to increase.
Salesforce Ben has contacted IBM for comment.
Summary
IBM is reportedly cutting thousands of jobs amid an apparent shift towards higher-growth software and service fields. Some US workers could be affected by the job cuts, but employment in the United States is expected to stay approximately the same, a spokesperson said.
These updates come amid a trend of layoffs across the tech sector in recent months.
Have you been affected by the layoffs? Email tips@salesforceben.com
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