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Tech News
Netflix has eliminated roughly 6% of its jobs, marking its biggest round of layoffs since 2022. The reduction affects staff across the company, though specific departments and total headcount impacted were not detailed.
Microsoft is cutting 268 more jobs across Xbox as part of the restructuring it began in July, with Halo Studios, first-party developers and central Xbox Game Studios functions most affected. A newly formed team under Activision will develop the next Halo title, while Rare and World's Edge also move under Activision's oversight, and Obsidian shifts to Bethesda. Compulsion Games, Double Fine and Undead Labs have been spun off as independent studios with funding and IP rights intact.
The Economist reports that despite fears of AI-driven job destruction, US employment data shows no broad downturn: unemployment sits at 4.1% and young workers' job prospects remain strong. While companies like Microsoft, Meta, Block and Intuit have cut roles tied to automation—averaging about 16,000 AI-related layoffs monthly—the publication estimates AI has simultaneously generated roughly 1 million new jobs through data-center construction, startup hiring and new corporate AI roles, dwarfing the roughly 200,000 layoffs attributed to the technology since mid-2023.
Volkswagen's Executive Board has formally approved a restructuring program dubbed Future Plan 2030, confirming it will eliminate 50,000 jobs, including management positions, to hit a nine percent operating margin target by 2030. The plan also involves halving its model lineup, cutting product complexity by 75 percent, and reportedly retiring the Seat brand while keeping Cupra. Volkswagen says European factories are running over 500,000 units above demand, and it will decide the fate of plants in Emden, Zwickau, Hanover and Neckarsulm by mid-2027.