One thing that comes with a job is the insecurity of losing it. In the US alone, over twenty million people are laid off every year on an average—this happens when a firm isn’t doing well anymore and decides to cut the workforce down.
Let’s take a look at the top six businesses that dismissed the highest number of people between 2000 to 2020.
Circuit City
Circuit City went bankrupt during the recession
The Great Recession got the best of companies. At one time, Circuit City was the second-largest electronics seller with more than 700 outlets.
Unfortunately, it got bogged down with issues of bankruptcy, which led to the corporation closing all of its stores and furloughing 34,000 of its employees.
Ford Motor and Kmart (tie)
After September 2001, customers were scared to step out of their homes and, hence, purchased fewer cars – this caused Ford Motor to swallow a loss of $5.45 billion. Bill Ford, himself, refused to take salaries or bonuses in 2002, and the manufacturers had to make 35,000 of their employees redundant.
Likewise, in 2003, Kmart laid off the same number of people out of its workforce as sales were slumping. It had shut 283 stores and cut 22,000 positions already before making this announcement.
Verizon Wireless
A healthy R&D plan was required to keep Verizon afloat
Being an electronics-related business, you have to stay updated with technology and invest more in research and development since it is a dynamic field. Verizon Wireless was struggling with the same thing in 2018.
The company had to lay off 44,000 employees so that they could gather $10 billion and upgrade to the newly introduced 5G wireless network.
General Motors
Halting the manufacturing of super-sized trucks along with SUVs, booting 47,000 people, and shutting down five of its factories, General Motors still holds the record for going through the largest bankruptcy in history.
The company was going through monetary problems during the Great Recession and started going down by early 2009. Now, it’s doing better by producing over seven million vehicles per year.
Citigroup
14% of Citigroup’s workforce was laid off in 2008
In 2008, the firm was going through a rough time. Bad loans had spun the business into a shock of huge losses, edging it towards a collapse during the global economic catastrophe.
A helpless Citigroup unemployed around 50,000 people, who made up 14% of its workforce, and even sold parts of their business. The CEO, Vikram Pandit, reported in an interview that ‘shock therapy’ had become a necessity to recover the losses.
Disney
With the Coronavirus pandemic looming around, Disney dismissed around 100,000 of its theme park and hotel workers as they’re temporarily closed. The company is said to have been saving approximately $500 million a month out of Mickey and Minnie’s salaries.
With the situation going around in the world at the moment, no one knows how many more people are going to suffer from unannounced redundancies.
