workforce

“Bumble’s Texas Team Shrinks by 33% in Wake of Restrictive Abortion Legislation”

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Bumble has lost a third of its Texas workforce in the months since the state passed the controversial abortion SB 8 (Senate Bill 8), also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, over a year ago. We’ve supported employees who’ve chosen to move out of state,” Monteleone added. “We — since SB 8 — have seen a reduction in our Texas workforce by about a third. The dating app maker became the first business to join an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit against the Texas abortion law, Zurawski v. State of Texas, filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The dating app maker posted a weak Q4, with a $32 million net loss and $273.6 million in revenue.

Motional, Backed by Hyundai, Trims Workforce by 5% in Pursuit of Autonomous Future

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Motional, the autonomous vehicle company borne out of a joint venture between Hyundai Moor Group and Aptiv, told employees Wednesday it will cut about 5% of its workforce, TechCrunch has learned. The autonomous vehicle company last had layoffs in December 2022, when it cut about 10% of its workforce. Motional operates an autonomous vehicle taxi service in Las Vegas (still with human safety operators behind the wheel) on Uber, Lyft and Via platforms. A production-ready autonomous vehicle, equipped with the kind of redundancies designed for safe operations without a human driver, is a critical milestone required for commercial operations. During CES 2024, the company announced plans to work with Kia on a next-generation vehicle that will enter commercial operations later this decade.

“Massive Job Reduction: Sony to Cut 900 Positions in PlayStation Division”

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Sony is laying off around 900 employees in its PlayStation division, the company announced on Tuesday. The cuts will impact 8% of the division’s global workforce, as Sony becomes the latest company to announce major cuts in recent weeks and months. The layoffs come two weeks after Sony cut its sales forecast for the PlayStation 5 after warning of decreasing demand. Sony isn’t the only company in the gaming business to announce recent job cuts. Last month, Microsoft laid off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees and Unity laid off 25% of its workforce.

“Empowering Women in AI: Meet Krystal Kauffman, Research Fellow at the Distributed AI Research Institute”

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We’ll publish several pieces throughout the year as the AI boom continues, highlighting key work that often goes unrecognized. Krystal Kauffman worked as an organizer on political and issue campaigns for a decade before pursuing a degree in geology. For the next two years, I was able to support myself doing data work in which I completed tasks that helped program AI, build LLMs and so on. What are some issues AI users should be aware of? Similarly, the creation of AI legislation has to involve data workers.

“Rivian Implements Workforce Reduction Amid Increasing Pressure on EV Pricing”

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This is the third round of layoffs for the EV company since July 2022 when Rivian cut 6% of its workforce. On a full-year basis, Rivian reported revenue of $4.4 billion, up from $1.66 billion in 2022. It brought in about $39 million in the fourth quarter and $73 million for the full year from the sale of regulatory credits. On an adjusted basis, it reported a loss of $1.1 billion compared to a $1.5 billion loss in the same year-ago period. “We took significant steps towards driving greater efficiency in 2023 gross profit per vehicle improved by approximately $81,000 when comparing the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter 2022,” Scaringe said on an earnings call Wednesday.

“Meati Foods Appoints CFO Phill Graves as it Trims Workforce by 13%”

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After naming Phil Graves the chief financial officer of alternative protein maker Meati Foods at the beginning of February, he is now the company’s new chief executive officer. The company also said it was reducing its workforce by 13% as Meati works to “build a financially sustainable business,” Graves told TechCrunch exclusively. Products are now in over 3,600 retail locations nationwide, including Whole Foods Market, Meijer, Cub Foods and Sprouts Farmers Market. Graves even said the company has a goal of expanding that to 10,000 locations before the end of 2024. Once fully ramped up, the facility will have the capability of producing more than 45 million pounds of product, Huggins told TechCrunch at the time.

Flexport May Be Forcing Job Cuts Once More

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Flexport, a logistics company with $2.7 billion in venture and debt funding, is reportedly planning additional layoffs. Flexport, which provides freight forwarding and brokerage services, announced similar cuts in October, when founder Ryan Petersen returned as CEO and slashed the company’s workforce by 20% — affecting about 600 workers. An additional round of layoffs at Flexport would cap a brutal January for tech workers, as giants and startups alike have eliminated a combined tens of thousands of jobs across the industry. While San Francisco-based Flexport wouldn’t be an outlier for making cuts, the timing would be peculiar. Just last week, Flexport said it’d raised an additional $260 million in funding from Shopify.

Aurora Automotives reduces workforce by 3% due to self-driving technology

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Aurora Innovation, the autonomous vehicle technology company aiming to launch a “driverless” self-driving trucks business by the end of 2024, laid off dozens of workers this month, according to sources familiar with the action. Aurora employed about 1,800 workers as of the end of 2023, according to the company. Aurora is also working with automotive supplier Continental on a more than $300 million project to mass produce autonomous vehicle hardware for commercial self-driving trucks. Developing autonomous vehicle technology that is safe enough for public roads has proven to be an expensive endeavor that has led to numerous startups shutting down or being acquired. Kodiak Robotics, which is privately held; Torc Robotics; and Sweden’s Einride are also working on self-driving trucks.

Aurora, Creator of Autonomous Cars, Implements Workforce Reduction of 3%

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Aurora Innovation, the autonomous vehicle technology company aiming to launch a “driverless” self-driving trucks business by the end of 2024, laid off dozens of workers this month, according to sources familiar with the action. Aurora employed about 1,800 workers as of the end of 2023, according to the company. Aurora is also working with automotive supplier Continental on a more than $300 million project to mass produce autonomous vehicle hardware for commercial self-driving trucks. Developing autonomous vehicle technology that is safe enough for public roads has proven to be an expensive endeavor that has led to numerous startups shutting down or being acquired. Kodiak Robotics, which is privately held; Torc Robotics; and Sweden’s Einride are also working on self-driving trucks.

Aurora, the Self-Driving Firm, Announces 3% Reduction in Workforce

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Aurora Innovation, the autonomous vehicle technology company aiming to launch a “driverless” self-driving trucks business by the end of 2024, laid off dozens of workers this month, according to sources familiar with the action. Aurora employed about 1,800 workers as of the end of 2023, according to the company. Aurora is also working with automotive supplier Continental on a more than $300 million project to mass produce autonomous vehicle hardware for commercial self-driving trucks. Developing autonomous vehicle technology that is safe enough for public roads has proven to be an expensive endeavor that has led to numerous startups shutting down or being acquired. Kodiak Robotics, which is privately held; Torc Robotics; and Sweden’s Einride are also working on self-driving trucks.