Major tech firm quietly lays off hundreds in AI-related shakeup

Major tech firm quietly lays off hundreds in AI-related shakeup

Tony Owusu

Tue, February 10, 2026 at 10:33 PM EST

4 min read

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The U.S. jobs market was uneven through most of 2025, but by the end of the year, a clear pattern had emerged. Job cuts were increasing, and the tech sector, with major companies like Amazon, was helping lead the way.

U.S.-based employers made 71,321 job cuts in November, according to outplacement consultancy firm Challenger, Gray, & Christmas.

The number for November 2025 was 24% higher than last year’s and is the highest for the month since 2022, when employers cut 76,835 jobs. November was the eighth month last year in which Challenger’s numbers showed a year-over-year increase.

Announced December job cuts fell significantly, as they tend to do right before rising again in January. But this January was even bloodier than analysts at Challenger, Gray, & Christmas had expected. The indicator is very concerning for the U.S. economy in 2026.

“Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January. It means most of these plans were set at the end of 2025, signaling employers are less-than-optimistic about the outlook for 2026,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray, & Christmas.

Software company Salesforce started laying off thousands of people last year due to its increased use of artificial intelligence. The company quietly started laying off hundreds more earlier this month.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff celebrated being able to reduce his customer service employee head count due to AI.Photo by Anadolu on Getty Images · Photo by Anadolu on Getty Images

Salesforce quietly lays off hundreds of employees

Last summer, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the quiet part out loud: AI agents were taking jobs away from his human employees.

Not only were agents taking jobs, but Benioff was also excited about it.

"It's been eight of the most exciting months of my career," Benioff said on a podcast, according to Business Insider. "I was able to rebalance my head count on my support. I've reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000 because I need less heads."

In case you don't speak Silicon Valley executive jargon, Benioff was celebrating the fact that he was able to fire nearly half of his customer support division, thanks to artificial intelligence agents.

Now Business Insider has learned that the layoffs didn't stop last month, as the company has quietly cut hundreds more jobs starting in February.

After noticing LinkedIn updates from several Salesforce employees, Business Insider sources confirmed widespread cuts, which they said involved fewer than 1,000 roles. Affected roles included marketing, product management, data analytics, and Salesforce's Agentforce AI generative AI product.

Story Continues

Salesforce currently employs between 76,000 and 77,000 people globally.

U.S. job cuts jump in January, reach highest total since 2009

Market watchers hoping to gain some early jobs momentum from the first month of the new year will have to look elsewhere, as U.S.-based employers more than doubled the number of January job cuts from last year.

Employers announced 108,435 job cuts last month, a 118% increase from the fewer than 50,000 announced a year ago, and a 205% increase from the 35,553 let go in December.

While the cuts affected many industries, 70% of the layoffs came from just four.

Transportation: The industry cut 31,243 jobs, with most of that total coming after UPS revealed it would cut 30,000 jobs following its split with Amazon.
Technology: Tech companies announced 22,291 job cuts in January, with most of those attributed to Amazon, which plans 16,000 layoffs. “CEO Andy Jassy, like many CEOs recently, has said AI will cost jobs in the coming years, but this cut appears to be due more to over-hiring and reducing layers than to the new technology,” said Challenger. Pinterest also announced it will lay off hundreds of employees later this month.
Health care: The health care industry shared news of 17,107 job cuts in January, its worst month since April 2020, when it announced 19,453. “Healthcare providers and hospital systems are grappling with inflation and high labor costs. Lower reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare are also hitting hospital systems. These pressures are leading to job cuts, as well as other cutting measures, such as some pay and benefits,” said Challenger.
Chemical: Chemical manufacturers revealed more than 4,700 job cuts in January, with Dow Inc.’s big layoff announcement accounting for most of that total. It was the industry’s highest monthly total since February 2016.

January job cuts were the worst they’ve been since 2009, when 241,749 jobs were cut. It was also the worst monthly total since October 2025, when 153,074 cuts were recorded.

But job cuts and layoffs are just one half of the employment picture. The other half is hiring, and the U.S. economy is struggling in that area as well.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the Employment section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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