Report: Red Hat Will Lay Off Over 700 Employees

(CTN News) – Earlier this week, Red Hat CEO Matt Hicks informed employees that around 4 percent of the company’s global workforce would be laid off. This was due to IBM’s announcement of thousands of layoffs in 2023.

According to its website, the Raleigh, N.C.-based open-source software superstar employs approximately 20,000 people in more than 100 countries around the world, which means that upwards of 800 employees will be laid off as a result of the restructuring.

It has been reported that Red Hat CEO Matt Hicks wrote a letter to employees saying, “Our associate base will be reduced over the next few weeks,” in a letter to employees.

Red Hat CEO James Hicks said in a recent interview that the layoffs are necessary in order to ensure the company’s ability to compete in a new environment, and that his leadership team “truly hoped” that layoffs could be avoided.

The CEO of Red Hat announced that the layoffs would affect general and administrative positions, while sales and engineering positions would not be affected by the layoffs.

There will be notification of the change to employees in certain countries on Monday, although others will be informed during Red Hat’s current fiscal second quarter, which runs from July 1 to September 30.

There have been layoffs at IBM and Red Hat

As part of one of the largest tech acquisitions in history, IBM acquired Red Hat for $34 billion in 2019. Red Hat’s neutrality was respected as part of the blockbuster merger between IBM and Red Hat.

It’s the second time IBM has confirmed it’s laying off between 1 and 1.5 percent of its global 260,000 workers. It’s expected to lay off 3,900 people.

In a statement to CRN, IBM said the layoffs are related to the spinoff of Kyndryl and the health care divestiture, and are not related to IBM’s expected performance in 2022 or 2023.

Red Hat’s CEO in July 2022 will be Matt Hicks.

Layoffs in the technology industry in 2023

In 2023, Red Hat will not be the first technology company to lay off employees.

IT companies of all sizes and shapes are laying off hundreds, even thousands of employees, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, SADA, and CDW.

A large number of CEOs are blaming the COVID-19 pandemic for the current wave of layoffs, which is attributed to hiring too many employees during 2021 and 2022.

It did not matter whether it made any sense or not, everyone kept hiring, hiring, and hiring. There were no downsides to this arrangement.

The only thing that mattered was growth at any cost,” stated Aviatrix CEO Steve Mullaney in a recent interview with CRN. Then last summer came along.

Then, all of a sudden, everyone says, “Hold on.”. That is no longer the way the world operates. It’s going back to what’s normal.” You must actually be profitable.

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