Qualtrics, Bird, Hopper sack hundreds of employees as tech layoffs continue

San Francisco, Oct 5 (IANS) More tech companies have asked hundreds of employees to leave as layoffs in the IT and technology sector continue unabated globally this year.

US-based experience-management software company Qualtrics is cutting about 14 per cent of its workforce -- nearly 780 jobs -- to reduce costs and restructure its organisation.

The company cited “a need to address the internal complexity created by its past hiring and growth”, reports Geek Wire.

“Rapid hiring was essential to enable our growth up to this point, but it also created complexity that does not support continued growth at our scale,” Qualtrics CEO Zig Seraphim wrote in an internal memo.

In addition to the layoffs, “several hundred roles are changing or moving locations over the next year”, he wrote in the memo.

SAP acquired Qualtrics for $8 billion in 2019.

The company spun out of SAP two years later and raised $1.55 billion in an initial public offering.

Earlier this year Qualtrics went private again, with Silver Lake buying the company in a $12.5 billion deal.

Shared micro-mobility company Bird, delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last week, has initiated another round of layoffs, reports TechCrunch.

However, the number of affected employees could not be ascertained.

The reduction in headcount came two weeks after Bird acquired Spin, another shared e-scooter operator based in the US.

Bird has struggled to reach profitability since going public via a special purpose acquisition merger in November 2021.

Last year, Bird laid off 23 per cent of its staff and shut down its retail scooter product.

Hopper, the fast-growing online travel and fintech company, has also cut 30 per cent of its full-time staff -- nearly 250 employees -- in a bid to become profitable.

A company spokesperson told Skift the job cuts came in tandem with the twin goals to boost the company’s travel app and B2B businesses, along with being “laser-focused on continuing to build our direct global hotel supply”.

More than 1,043 tech companies have laid off around 239,603 employees this year so far.