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Years ago, I worked as a lawyer for an acquired regional bank. To eliminate redundancies, the new general counsel laid off the lawyers he didn’t need. He posted a schedule with everyone’s name on it, parked himself in an empty office and met each lawyer at the appointed time. If they were fired, they walked out holding a folder. If they kept their job, they walked out empty handed. The rest of the department sat in the hall waiting to see how people emerged, keeping track and calculating odds. The process was cruel, public and unnecessary. And those of us who kept our jobs moved forward with high trepidation and low trust.

In those days, layoffs were used as a last resort: in mergers or extreme financial hardship. Today, they are ubiquitous. In 2023, U.S. layoffs were 98% higher than 2022. And 2024 is not far behind. January felt like open season on employees–especially in the tech sector–with the second highest January layoffs in the past 15 years.

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BuzzFeed bought Complex Networks in December 2021 for around $198 million in cash and $96 million in equity.

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According to the company, the money from the sale will help BuzzFeed, Inc. improve its financial health by reducing debt and increasing liquidity.

Last month, in a financial filing BuzzFeed said that it would have $150 million in debt due by 2026, along with an extra $33.8 million from a line of credit, the New York Times reported.

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With tech layoffs at their highest since the 2001 dot-com crash, the job hunt is getting harder and many in the industry are being forced to settle for pay cuts if they can find a new gig at all.

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Texas has sought to attract companies with lower taxes and lighter regulation. More than 300 companies have moved to the state since 2015, helping to drive a boom that has turned the Lone Star into the eighth largest economy in the world — ahead of Canada, Italy and Russia.

Chevron will gradually move all corporate functions to Houston over the next five years with positions supporting its California operations remaining in San Ramon.

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Warner Bros. has eliminated more than 2,000 positions over the past year and slashed 100 jobs at CNN last month. The company raised subscription prices for its Max streaming service in June.

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The discount retailer previously said it planned to close as many as 40 stores during its most recent earnings report in June, when it recorded a 10% decrease in sales and a $205 million loss for the quarter because customers are cutting back on spending. In a recent regulatory filing, Big Lots said it would increase the number of closures to 315 stores, part of an updated loan agreement to secure its finances.

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Macy’s will set off a wave of change at malls, as it closes about 150 namesake stores across the country by early 2027.
The department store operator has long been a mall anchor, with stores that range between 200,000 and 225,000 square feet.
Mall owners could convert the former Macy’s boxes into smaller retail spaces or make more significant changes, such as adding apartments or demolishing the mall for a completely new development.

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“Impacted positions are primarily corporate roles. The reductions will not impact front-line jobs in our stores, pharmacies and distribution centers,” the spokesperson added.

The job cuts at the company, which runs a network of pharmacies across the United States among other businesses, add to the 5,000 or so layoffs disclosed last year. In 2021, CVS Health announced that it would close around 900 stores between 2022 and 2024.

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