Satellite radio firm SiriusXM has announced a reduction in its employee count, in line with the overall trend among tech companies firing workers in the past few months.
As part of the company’s efforts to reduce costs, SiriusXM has already decreased its real estate footprint, cut down its content and marketing budget, as well as implemented stricter restrictions on its travel and entertainment policy.
Financial Performance and 2023 Guidance
In 2022, SiriusXM had met its financial guidance, bringing in revenues of $9 billion, up 4 percent year-over-year. Net income for the year was recorded at $1.21 billion, down from $1.31 billion in 2021. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) came in at $2.83 billion, up 2 percent. The company also added an estimated 348,000 subscribers for the year.However, in its 2023 guidance, the company projected revenues to remain flat at $9 billion, with EBITDA falling to $2.7 billion. It also held a negative view about adding more subscribers.
While Witz said that she expects the company to generate “significant cash” and deliver “strong operating performance” for the year, she admitted that the firm will be facing a “challenging economic environment.”
Mass Layoffs
Multiple firms have announced employee layoffs this year. Alphabet, which owns Google, announced a workforce reduction of 12,000 employees. Microsoft plans to lay off 10,000 employees this year.Amazon announced 18,000 terminations, amounting to around 6 percent of the company’s global corporate workforce. In January, IBM announced a headcount reduction of 3,900 employees.
“We’re now on the other side of the hiring frenzy of the pandemic years,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger. “Companies are preparing for an economic slowdown, cutting workers and slowing hiring.”
“Sixty percent of Gen Z adults said recent mass layoffs were avoidable based on the current economic environment, while more than half (52 percent) of millennials said the same,” according to the survey. Among baby boomers, only 43 percent considered the layoffs were avoidable.