Whether you took the lead as Mary or Joseph or were relegated to the back as sheep number three, the school Nativity play is a rite of passage for many British children.

But how you were cast in your Christmas performance might reveal a surprising amount about your personality.

Psychologists say that the personality differences that make one child an excellent angel and another a perfect shepherd can shape our entire lives.

And it’s bad news if you ended up playing the donkey.

According to experts, children who end up as the donkey are usually the ‘class clown’ and like to make others laugh.

However, these positive traits can also be signs of a need for attention and recognition from others.

If you ended up as Mary or Joseph, on the other hand, psychologists say you are likely to be a natural leader who would make a ‘potential future Prime Minister’.

So, what does your Nativity play role say about you?

The school Nativity play is a rite of passage for many British children. Now, psychologists have revealed what your role says about your personality (stock image)

Mary and Joseph

With these characters taking the centre stage in the drama of the Nativity, any child able to meet the challenge will need to have plenty of confidence.

Dr Sheila Redfern, clinical psychologist and author of ‘Reflective Parenting: Raising Emotionally Healthy Children’, told Daily Mail: ‘The child who gets picked to be Mary is likely to be bold and confident and a potential future Prime Minister.’

‘They are probably the most popular girl in their class and always get invited to parties.’

Similarly, any boy willing to step up into the role of Joseph will need similar leadership abilities.

‘To embody a lead role, a young child needs to feel self-assured and confident in themselves,’ says Dr Redfern.

‘He’s also likely to be the popular boy in the class and will be confident and self-assured.’

She adds that people who played Joseph in school likely went on to be head boy or to take on other leading positions.

As the lead characters, anyone who was cast as Mary or Joseph is likely confident and popular. These roles may go on to succeed in politics and are the most likely to become a future Prime Minister (stock image) 

What your Nativity play role says about you

Mary: Confident, popular, and the most likely to become Prime Minister

Joseph: Self-assured, confident, the most popular in their class

Narrator: Engaging, trustworthy and smart. Likely to do well in business

Innkeeper: A natural-born leader who is used to commanding respect

Wiseman: Serious-minded and focused. May be drawn to an interest in psychology

Angel: Fearless, self-assured, and doesn’t care what others think

Donkey: Likely the class clown. Keen to make others laugh and happy to laugh at themselves 

Shepherd: Quietly confident and secure in their own ego

Sheep: Shy and uninterested in fame, but with great potential to develop   

However, psychologists also say that there may be more behind a child’s desire to take the leading role than a love of performance.

Dr Kirsten Antoncich, a child psychologist from Birmingham City University, told Daily Mail: ‘We learn from a young age how to recruit love, attention and praise from our parents.

‘When we have parents who really want their children to be front and centre on stage, children can quickly pick up on this and internalise it as their own wishes.

‘For the child taking the lead role, it could very well be their own creativity that drives them… or it could be a way of ensuring parental praise and recognition.’

Narrator

Besides the holy family itself, one of the most important roles in the Nativity is that of the narrator.

This role requires great memory to recall plenty of lines and a natural flair for the dramatic.

If you took on this role in school, you likely went on to use those skills to go far in your career.

People who took on the role of narrator in their Nativity play are interesting, engaging, and smart. These people may go on to become actors in the future. Pictured: David Tennant (left) and Mark Wootton (right) in Nativity 2

Dr Redfern says: ‘The narrator needs to hold everyone’s attention and so above all, they must be interesting, engaging, smart and trustworthy enough to remember all those lines.

‘The personality of a good narrator is likely to be someone who is a great organiser of others. The narrator will go far in life and be trusted and respected by others.’

However, with this much natural charisma, Dr Redfern says that narrators are much more likely to end up as aspiring actors than accountants.

Innkeeper

The innkeeper might not have the most lines in the play, but their declaration of ‘no room at the inn’ is probably one of the most impactful.

And, if you were chosen to deliver those pivotal lines as a child, it could mean you are not someone to be argued with.

‘The child who takes on this role could be a future CEO or Head teacher. They command respect and attention,’ says Dr Redfern.

‘This role is made for a natural-born leader with a loud, confident voice, who is used to being taken seriously.

The three kings or wisemen are serious-minded and aren’t attracted to stardom. However, they are also natural leaders who may develop an interest in psychology (stock image) 

‘They are probably cheeky and outspoken and will go far in life.’

Wiseman

Whether you call them the wisemen, kings or Magi, these three characters with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and Myrrh are a key part of the Christmas story.

But, as well as having an excuse to wear the best costumes, anyone who was cast as a wiseman was also given a lot of responsibility.

Dr Redfern says that the role is likely to go to ‘a serious-minded child who has depth and isn’t attracted to the obvious “star” or ‘showy role of Joseph or the angel.’

She adds: ‘The wise man is a leader and also needs to be trusted with an expensive prop.

‘The role could inspire a child to be drawn towards something psychology-oriented.’

Angel

If you were an angel in your school nativity play, it means that you are likely self-assured and don’t care what other people think about you. Pictured: Children dressed as angels, from St Joseph’s Nursery, Dublin

The 5 Christmas story elements that don’t appear in the Bible

1. Jesus was not born on a ‘silent night’
2. There was no ‘little donkey’
3. In fact, there were no animals at all
4. There was no inn keeper or stable
5. There may not have been three kings 

Tasked with leading a rousing chorus of ‘Silent Night’ or ‘Away in a Manger’, the Angels are the musical backbone of the Nativity performance.

According to psychologists, anyone who was bold enough to make this role their own must have had a strong confident streak.

Dr Redfern says: ‘This role is likely to be taken by the type of child who is so self-assured they don’t care what others think about them.

‘Because let’s be honest, singing in front of your peers is likely to invite in teasing and ridicule unless you are super confident.’

And even if your performance was lacking in skill, making up for that in enthusiasm could be a sign of some really positive personality traits.

Dr Antoncich explains: ‘Children singing out of tune or too loud or doing the wrong dance moves can often signal an appropriately joyful exuberant side which doesn’t yet feel shame at standing out.

‘The child who sings too loudly could very much be the child who is engrossed in what they are doing, having a whale of a time and being appropriately carefree.’

Donkey

The donkey is often the class clown who likes to make others laugh. However, psychologists say the need to be at the centre of attention could mask some psychological issues (stock image) 

Of course, where would Mary and Joseph be without their faithful donkey to carry them to Jerusalem?

If you were the one to be cast in this often comedic role, it might mean that you were something of a class clown.

‘They are self-assured enough not to need a star role, or to need to seek affirmation constantly for how they look, but they are usually popular because they are a bit quirky and can make others laugh,’ says Dr Redfern.

However, psychologists say that the need to make others laugh could be a sign of psychological issues.

Dr Antoncich says: ‘For children who have been used to recruiting attention through being the class clown, the sudden loss of this performative role and the recognition that comes with it can drive them to try and recapture it by being silly in front of others.

‘Disruptive behaviour could mean a number of things; often it masks deeper issues.

‘Some children can find the attention on them for something out of their comfort zone, like singing, unsettling and try to deflect it onto something they are more used to being noticed for, such as messing around.’

Shepherd

Shepherds might not be the most glamorous role, but experts say that they are confident and humble. Someone cast in this role is also likely to have great attention skills and doesn’t get distracted easily 

With a tea-towel on their head and a crook in hand, the shepherds don’t command quite as much respect as the other roles in the play.

However, according to the experts, that could be a good sign for your psychological development.

‘The child who plays a shepherd is not afraid to look silly, as they will have to confidently wear a towel on their head and look humble doing so,’ says Dr Redfern.

She adds that anyone who was cast in this important role is likely to be ‘quietly confident and secure enough in their ego they don’t need to prove anything.’

While the shepherds don’t have many lines, they do need to spend a lot of time on stage without fidgeting or causing a disturbance.

According to Dr Redfern, children who develop these skills earlier than their peers may go on to do well in their careers.

She says: ‘They are going to need to have great skills of attention and not be highly distractible.’

Sheep and other animals

If you were a sheep or any other animal, such as a penguin, you might be more shy and less interested in the limelight. However, children cast in these smaller roles have the most potential to develop with the right support. Pictured: The Secret Life of Children at Christmas 

With more children in a class than there are big roles, many will end up filling up the motley crew of assorted animals, ranging from sheep and cows to cats and lobsters.

For any children drawn to these roles, it might be a sign that they are shyer or less confident than their peers.

Dr Antoncich says: ‘For some children, being looked at or being perceived can feel uncomfortable – if you think of the child who blushes or the children who find it hard to speak in front of others.’

Dr Antoncich says that these children might need more help and support to develop, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Professor Claire Hughes, a psychologist at the University of Cambridge, told Daily Mail that people cast as animals might be classed as so-called ‘orchid children’.

Professor Hughes says: ‘These are children who need more nurturing. In the past, people might have referred to them as “vulnerable”, but scientifically, we know that doesn’t make sense.

‘The same children might be more buffeted by challenging circumstances, but they are also children who respond particularly well when there’s an intervention that makes things better for them – they are more malleable, more adaptable.’

So, if you were a shy sheep hiding at the back, it may mean that you had the most potential to develop and grow as an adult.

WHAT DO PEOPLE BELIEVE ABOUT THE TRADITIONAL BIRTHPLACE OF JESUS?

The Church of the Nativity, located six miles (10 km) outside of Jerusalem, is one of the most important religious sites in the world.

It has been recognised as the birthplace of Jesus since at least the Second Century and has been listed as a Unesco world heritage site since 2012.

The original church was built in 339 AD, but was rebuilt after fire in the 6th century and it is one of the oldest churches in the world still in daily use. 

An estimated two million people make pilgrimages to the site each year to visit the church and the shrine below, the Grotto, where Jesus of Nazareth is believed to have been born.

But the region is of key importance to other religions as well. Almost 1,000 years before Jesus, Bethlehem was the city of King David. 

Today, the site in Bethlehem is part of a large religious complex.

Set in the marble floor of the Grotto is a silver star which represents the spot where Jesus was born, installed in 1717 and surrounded by lamps to represent the different Christian communities. 

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The Lagos State University (LASU) has introduced regulations for activities surrounding cinematographic activities (content creation) across the campuses. The move follows the bandit prank that caused pandemonium among students on campus.

The disclosure was contained in a press statement released on Friday night on its official Facebook page, signed by Oluwayemis A. Thomas-Onashile, Deputy Registrar/Coordinator, Centre for Information and Public Relations, LASU. It noted that the move is an attempt to maintain the University’s status and integrity and preserve sanity. 

In the statement, LASU noted that all students, individuals who wish to engage in cinematographic activities on the University campus, must first obtain approval from its Centre for Information and Public Relations (CIPR). 

“This includes, but is not limited to, the shooting or recording of videos such as skits, vox pops, short films, promotional content, or any other form of audiovisual material within the University premises, hostels, or associated facilities,” it added. 

With the regulation, the management aims to curb the unauthorised use of its facilities for ‘offensive’ content that misrepresents the University’s values and image. 

“Such materials have the potential to cause reputational harm and undermine the integrity of the University as a respected citadel of learning and character development,” part of the statement reads. 

In addition to the regulation of content creation, LASU has also reviewed the use of drones within its campus. The management noted that students and the general public who want to use drones in the University environment must now obtain approval from the Security Department. 

“This measure is to ensure the safety, privacy, and security of all members of the University community,” it added.

Backstory

The latest development comes after the University had earlier distanced itself from authorising the bandit pranks, which caused pandemonium across the University community.

In a press release on Sunday, December 7, 2025, LASU frowned at the video, stating that it does not support any prank that can incite fear, disrupt campus peace, or threaten the sense of safety of its students and staff. 

“LASU strongly condemns acts or content that portray or suggest banditry, terrorism, or violent extremism,” it said. 

Bandit prank on Lasuites

On Friday, December 5, 2025,  a viral video titled “Bandits Prank on Lasuites,” reportedly created and uploaded by Datreez Entertainment TV, circulated across social media platforms. The video depicts individuals dressed in a manner that created immediate fear and panic while entering LASU with equipment and prompting distress amongst students.

The video prank comes at a time when the Nigerian community is facing significant national security challenges. It has also faced several criticisms by Nigerians who depict it as an attempt to make a jest at a time at a critical time.

Also Read: MoMo PSB launches ₦10 bus rides for UNILAG students through new EV partnership.

Not only LASU

This isn’t the first time a Nigerian university has regulated content creation within its environment. 

In October, the University of Lagos (UNILAG) prohibited the unauthorised use of its campus, including hostels and other facilities, for video production by skitmakers, filmmakers, and content creators.

According to the University management, the move is to curb the increasing use of its campus for video production. In addition, it’s an attempt to protect the academic environment and preserve the institution’s image from misrepresentation in unregulated productions.

With the rising regulation of content creation, in addition to critics surrounding ethical considerations, content creators 

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If you wanted to understand the passion it truly takes to build a game in Africa, you only needed to witness the morning of MaliyoCon25, the inaugural gaming conference hosted by Maliyo Games, the game developer behind Safari City, Whot King, and Disney’s Iwájú: Rising Chef. The rain poured down heavily on Thursday morning, December 11, and the notorious Lagos traffic that might typically cripple an event. But that chaos only seemed to fuel the resolve of the attendees, as the room sat full. Nothing was going to hold back the people building Africa’s gaming future.

The room was packed with game developers, founders, creators, and executives, including Hugo Obi, founder of Maliyo Games; Mathias Nørvig, CEO of SYBO Games, the studio behind Subway Surfers; Bukola Akinagbe, founder of Kucheza Games; and representatives from SuperCell, all drawn together by a shared belief that African-made games can stand confidently on the global stage. 

MaliyoCon25 was a checkpoint to evaluate how far the industry has come and to confront the hard truths of what must be done to develop the gaming ecosystem in Nigeria and across the continent.

Navigating a “stop-start” ecosystem

Amidst the applause, the conversation shifted to the reality of what it actually takes to run a studio in Africa. While the global gaming industry might face its own headwinds, the African context introduces a layer of friction that requires a unique kind of fortitude. Christopher Adomako, the Lead Product Manager at Maliyo, described the development lifecycle here as a start-stop process. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever worked on a project where we’ve started something, gone from brainstorming to game design, and everything just went straight to the hands of players. It has definitely been stop-start,” he said.” Whether it is battling poor internet connectivity or power outages, Adomako described the workflow as one that is rarely smooth. Creators must know exactly when to pause and when to resume, turning game development into a test of patience as much as skill. 

This environment demands a specific temperament from founders. Echoing a sentiment introduced by Deborah Mensah-Bonsu, global social impact lead at SuperCell, about the necessity of grit, Hugo Obi reinforced that to survive here: “You have got to be scrappy.” There is no room for waiting for perfect conditions or ample resources. Obi spoke openly about the structural issues that sit behind the work, the absence of industry data, weak monetisation systems on the continent, the pressure to train talent from scratch, and the constant battle to build while simultaneously keeping the lights on. 

“The challenge that we have is that all of the data that we have is third-party; it is somebody else’s data,” he said. “Nothing we do is easy. The funding is not easy, the production is not easy, the personnel management is not easy.” 

Talent remains the beating heart of this conversation. There are brilliant creatives across the continent, but developing them into production-ready professionals takes time. Data from the 2024 Africa Games Industry Report reveals that roughly 63% of local game developers have less than five years of experience in the industry. Reflecting on the early days of the industry, Obi shared his realisation about the attrition rate in the African gaming space. 

“Everyone I started with was gone,” he said. “ People had put years into this thing… at some point, I was the last man standing.” 

The ecosystem was trapped in a cycle where ambition wasn’t matching output because there was no pipeline to produce skilled developers. This realisation birthed Game Up Africa, a training programme for people interested in developing games. 

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There also lies the challenge of the audience. Obi noted that African creators are building for a market that is still forming its identity, with spending power that fluctuates and user behaviour that global benchmarks don’t capture. Layered on these challenges is the struggle for funding. While third-party data suggests the African gaming market is generating significant value, with revenue of about $7 billion in 2024 across the Middle East and Africa, capital flows to studios remain restricted. 

According to data from the 2025 African Game Developer Survey, only 3% of game studios have ever received government funding, underscoring how limited funding flows are for early-stage creators. Some exceptions highlight what is possible, as South African game developer Carry1st raised a $27 million round in 2023. This reality, where only a small fraction of developers secure meaningful investment, reinforces that fundraising is a persistent pain point in the game development industry.

The future of game development in Africa

MaliyoCon25 also made it clear that Africa’s game development is already taking shape, regardless of the difficulties. With programmes like Game Up Africa feeding talent into studios, partnerships forming across borders, including interest from institutions like Arizona State University, and creators gaining confidence in telling African stories. One of the recurring themes was that Africa’s strength will come from building with the continent’s own identity and structural realities in mind, rather than replicating what exists elsewhere.

“I want us to be a net producer, as opposed to a net consumer of games. Nothing else matters. As long as Africa is not producing the games that Africans are playing… this needs to be done,” Obi declared, going so far as to call local game production “a matter of national security.”

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Gigantic sinkholes hundreds of feet deep have been opening up throughout Turkey, mirroring a biblical prophecy.

The Book of Numbers, Chapter 6, describes the earth opening up and swallowing people as divine punishment for rebellion, a connection that some are drawing after the massive collapses in the Konya Plain, a key wheat-growing region. 

Many have interpreted the growing phenomenon as a sign that ‘God is on the move.’

However, scientists point to far more earthly causes. Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority has reported 648 massive sinkholes in the Konya Plain, primarily the result of severe drought and excessive groundwater pumping.

 Researchers at Konya Technical University have discovered more than 20 new sinkholes in the past year alone, adding to the nearly 1,900 sites already mapped by 2021 where the ground was slowly sinking or starting to cave in.

Before 2000, only a handful of sinkholes appeared each decade, but climate change and prolonged drought are blamed for the dramatic increase over the past 25 years. 

Today, dozens of enormous collapses occur annually, some more than 100 feet wide.

Falling groundwater tables are driving the problem, causing drier wells, stressed ecosystems, dwindling crops, and land subsidence. Farmers pumping more water to save sugar beet and corn crops are further exacerbating the situation.

Scientists warn that similar risks could emerge in parts of the US, Asia, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Australia, where declining groundwater levels threaten communities and ecosystems.

A massive sinkhole in Turkey. Researchers have discovered nearly 700 similar-sized openings in the country’s Konya Plain caused by drought and groundwater pumping

Turkey Today reported that some farmers have already lost crops or had to abandon fields deemed too dangerous 

According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, Turkey’s water reservoirs reached their lowest levels in 15 years in 2021. 

The groundwater table in parts of Konya has dramatically dropped over the past few decades, according to Turkish geological studies. 

The same issues are plaguing the US, with major declines seen in the Great Plains, Central Valley and Southeast. 

Parts of Texas, Florida, New Mexico, and Arizona could be affected by major sinkholes if drought conditions worsen and groundwater pumping is not carefully regulated.

The US Drought Monitor noted that pockets of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming have also reached this severe level of drought. 

Massive sinkholes form in drought-ridden areas when farmers and cities pump massive amounts of groundwater from limestone rock layers to survive the dry years, emptying the underground caves that were once filled with water.

When that water support vanishes, the cave roofs collapse, creating huge holes that swallow farmland and roads overnight, just like in Turkey and parts of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.

The sinkholes in Turkey (Pictured) have opened up near many farms, which have been battling drought conditions believed to be intensified by climate change

In the US, scientists have warned of an ‘unprecedented 21st century drought risk’ in the Southwest and Central Plains.

Over the last decade, multiple studies have forecasted ‘severe and persistent drought’ conditions through the year 2100.

Currently, the nation’s Drought Monitor system found that the worst conditions in 2025 were found along the US-Mexico border in western Texas, measuring at ‘D4’ – the most severe drought rating.

Several other regions in northern Florida and southern Georgia, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah were all graded in December 2025 as being in severe drought (D2) or extreme drought (D3).

US officials have revealed that several areas of the Southwest are at risk of similar sinkholes as severe drought conditions worsen in the coming century

In Upton County, Texas, a massive sinkhole formed around an abandoned 1950s oil well near McCamey, measuring about 200 feet wide and 40 feet deep in March.

In southeastern Arizona’s Cochise County, land subsidence (ground sinking) from groundwater pumping has led to multiple fissures and sinkholes this year.

These sinkholes have varied from 10 to 30 feet across, with local areas reportedly sinking by more than six inches per year across hundreds of acres, creating pockets of unstable ground in farming areas.

In southern New Mexico, a 30-foot-deep sinkhole opened in May 2024 near homes in Las Cruces, swallowing two cars and forcing nearby homes to evacuate.

Officials cited unstable soil from recent droughts as the key factor, though no statewide pumping cutbacks were enacted in response.

In Texas, over 100 public water systems have imposed restrictions on groundwater pumping this year, as new drought rules have limited groundwater pumping for agriculture and in cities across central Texas.

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The tech layoff wave is still kicking in 2025. Last year saw more than 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. So far this year, more than 22,000 workers have been the victim of reductions across the tech industry, with a staggering 16,084 cuts taking place in February alone.

We’re tracking layoffs in the tech industry in 2025 so you can see the trajectory of the cutbacks and understand the impact on innovation across all types of companies. As businesses continue to embrace AI and automation, this tracker serves as a reminder of the human impact of layoffs — and what could be at stake with increased innovation.

Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of all the known tech layoffs that have occurred in 2025, which will be updated regularly. If you have a tip on a layoff, contact us here. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact us here.

• December 2025: 300 employees laid off — see all December 2025 tech layoffs
• November 2025: 8,932 employees laid off — see all November 2025 tech layoffs
• October 2025: 18,510 employees laid off — see all October 2025 tech layoffs
• September 2025: 4,152 employees laid off — see all September 2025 tech layoffs
• August 2025: 6,302 employees laid off — see all August 2025 tech layoffs
• July 2025: 16,327 employees laid off — see all July 2025 tech layoffs
• June 2025: 1,606 employees laid off — see all June 2025 tech layoffs
• May 2025: 10,397 employees laid off — see all May 2025 tech layoffs
• April 2025: More than 24,500 employees laid off — see all April 2025 tech layoffs
• March 2025: 8,834 employees laid off — see all March 2025 tech layoffs
• February 2025: 16,234 employees laid off — see all February 2025 tech layoffs
• January 2025: 2,403 employees laid off — see all January 2025 tech layoffs

December

Payoneer

Will let go of about 30 employees in Israel and a similar number of staff overseas, bringing the total reduction to roughly 6% of its global workforce.

VSCO

Laid off 24 employees as part of a restructuring to refocus on tools for professional photographers. In an internal memo seen by TechCrunch, CEO Eric Wittman said that consumer demand fell short and recent expansion efforts didn’t deliver as hoped.

Mobileye

Is reportedly cutting 200 employees, about 4% of its global workforce. With over 3,000 of its 4,300 employees based in Israel, most of the cuts will affect its local teams.

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Inside Inbound Health

Shut down on December 1, according to an audio recording obtained by Axios Pro. The hospital-at-home startup had raised more than $50 million.

November

Intel

The company continued with its stated goal of cutting a significant amount of its workforce this year, with 59 Bay Area jobs eliminated effective November 30, in a Employment Development Department filing caught by KRON4.

HP

Is reportedly set to cut 4,000 to 6,000 jobs worldwide by 2028 as it looks to streamline operations and leverage AI to speed up product development and boost efficiency.

Apple

Is cutting several sales positions handling accounts ranging from business and schools to government agencies, as it moves to streamline how it sells devices and services to businesses, schools, and government agencies, Bloomberg reports.

Monarch Tractor

Told employees it may lay off more than 100 workers or even shut down, according to an internal memo obtained by TechCrunch. This comes after weeks of staff cuts across the autonomous electric tractor startup’s California offices and its teams in India and Singapore.

Playtika

Announced plans to lay off about 20% of its workforce, 700 to 800 employees, next month, marking its fifth round of cuts since 2022, according to Calcalist. The Nasdaq-listed gaming company, valued at $1.5 billion, employs about 3,500 people.

Pipe

Has laid off about 200 employees, roughly half its workforce, per Fintech Business Weekly. The revenue-based small business lender, once valued at $2 billion, said the cuts are part of its push toward profitability and greater operational efficiency.

Synopsys

Plans to cut roughly 10% of its workforce and close several sites as part of a restructuring tied to its recent acquisition of Ansys, The Wall Street Journal reported. The layoffs, which are expected to affect about 2,000 employees, are scheduled to take place during fiscal 2026, which began November 1.

Deepwatch

Has laid off between 60 and 80 employees, citing artificial intelligence as one of the factors behind the decision, TechCrunch reported. The cybersecurity firm, which builds an AI-powered threat detection and response platform, employs roughly 250 people.

Axonius

Is reportedly cutting roughly 10% of its staff, notifying employees in early November that about 100 of its 900 workers will be laid off. The New York–based cybersecurity firm says the move aims to streamline operations.

MyBambu

Is set to permanently close its local operations, laying off all 141 employees in two waves, according to a filing with the Florida Department of Commerce. The Florida-headquartered fintech company’s first 100 employees were let go on October 31, with the remaining 41 slated for termination by December 31.

Hewlett-Packard

Is removing 52 positions at its San Jose campus, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle. The layoffs, which began last month and will continue through November, affect employees across cloud development, engineering, and product management.

October

Amazon

After Reuters reported that the company was planning to eliminate up to 30,000 corporate jobs, amounting to roughly 10% of its 350,000 employees in their corporate departments, Amazon shared that it would pursue an “overall reduction in our corporate workforce of approximately 14,000 roles.” Since that news broke, Amazon has laid off 660 employees across multiple New York City offices, with more to come through the year.

Rivian

Is cutting 600 jobs, about 4% of its workforce, amid an EV market pullback, marking its third layoff this year. Details of the latest layoffs remain undisclosed, while earlier cuts in June and September affected 100 to 150 employees in its commercial and manufacturing teams.

Meta

Has laid off approximately 600 employees across its AI infrastructure units, including the Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team and other product-related roles. However, top-tier AI hires in TBD Labs, managed by new chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, will not be affected.

Applied Materials

Plans to cut about 4% of its workforce, or roughly 1,400 jobs, to streamline operations amid tighter U.S. semiconductor export controls.

Handshake

Laid off around 100 employees in October, about 15% of its 650-person U.S. workforce. The layoffs affected various roles across its recruiting business vertical. The San Francisco-based startup is an online platform connecting college students and recent graduates with employers for early-career jobs.

Smartsheet

Has reportedly laid off over 120 employees amid a leadership transition following CEO Mark Mader’s retirement. The enterprise software company, which grew to more than 3,300 employees, was acquired for $8.4 billion by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners earlier this year, taking it private.

Google

Has cut over 100 design roles in its cloud division, hitting U.S.-based teams especially hard, as the company shifts focus toward AI investments, per a CNBC report. Many affected employees have until early December to find a new role within Google, following additional layoffs across its Silicon Valley offices, including at least 50 permanent cuts in Sunnyvale.

Paycom

Is reportedly laying off over 500 employees due to AI and automation improving back-office efficiencies. The Oklahoma City-based HR and payroll software company will provide affected workers with severance packages, outplacement services, and access to internal job opportunities.

September

Just Eat

Will eliminate around 450 jobs as part of a cost and operations review, according to Reuters. The layoffs will span multiple functions and countries, including customer service and sales. Europe’s largest food delivery company said it is increasingly using automation and AI, shifting many manual service tasks to automated systems.

Fiverr

Plans to cut around 250 jobs, approximately 30% of its workforce, as part of a push to become a leaner, faster, and AI-focused company, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Tel Aviv-headquartered freelance services marketplace said the restructuring will reduce management layers and position it to pursue growth with an AI-native approach.

ZipRecruiter

Is closing its Tel Aviv development center, cutting about 80 jobs. Led by Yosi Taguri, the office specialized in software, data, and AI research, including algorithm development. The California-based recruitment firm, founded in 2010, is trimming costs amid a challenging labor market.

GupShup

Has laid off at least 100 employees, including junior developers, just months after cutting nearly 200 jobs. The San Francisco-based conversational AI company, which is preparing for an IPO within two years, raised $60 million in equity and debt in July.

xAI

Laid off about a third of its data annotation team, cutting roughly 500 jobs, according to Business Insider. The move comes as the company shifts focus from generalist AI tutors to specialist roles, after testing workers to assess their strengths. Employees were told they’ll be paid through the end of their contracts — or November 30 at the latest — but their system access was cut immediately, Business Insider reports.

Rivian

Has reportedly laid off about 200 workers, or 1.5% of its staff, as the company braces for the end of federal EV tax credits under President Trump’s policy changes. The $7,500 incentive for new electric cars expires this month, adding to pressure from cooling demand. Despite the cuts, Rivian says it’s moving ahead with plans for a lower-cost model.

Oracle

Is cutting another 101 jobs in Seattle and 254 in San Francisco, just weeks after a wave of layoffs in August. The company, which had about 3,900 local employees before the cuts, hasn’t explained the move and declined to comment.

Salesforce

Is trimming another 262 jobs at its San Francisco headquarters, according to a state filing, with layoffs set to take effect November 3. The move comes just weeks after CEO Marc Benioff touted AI’s potential to cut customer support roles and follows a smaller round of cuts in Seattle and Bellevue earlier this month.

August

Cisco

Will eliminate 221 positions across its Milpitas and San Francisco offices, including 157 in Santa Clara County and 64 in San Francisco, effective October 13, according to filings with California’s Employment Development Department reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. The cuts are part of the company’s broader workforce-reduction strategy.

Restaurant365

Laid off about 100 employees last month, around 9% of its workforce, after falling short of ambitious growth targets. The cuts affected staff across all departments. The company provides back-office software for restaurant chains.

Oracle

Is set to cut 101 jobs at its Santa Clara location, with notices issued on August 13 and terminations effective October 13. The company, which recently disclosed nearly 200 layoffs at its Pleasanton and Redwood City offices, is also planning to lay off 161 employees in Seattle, according to filings with the Washington state Employment Security Department.

F5

Is cutting 106 positions at its Seattle and Liberty Lake, Washington, offices, according to a state Employment Security Department filing. The layoffs, which affected senior engineers and managers, are part of a broader global workforce reduction, although the security and application delivery company has not disclosed the total number of employees affected.

Peloton

Will cut 6% of its workforce in its sixth layoff in just over a year. Peloton CEO Peter Stern said the cuts are needed to improve long-term business health.

Kaltura

Is cutting 10% of its workforce, or about 70 employees, as part of a cost-saving effort to reduce operating expenses by $8.5 million, marking its third round of layoffs since 2022. The corporate video software company plans to maintain and gradually grow its sales and marketing budgets, driven by a robust pipeline and growing adoption of its AI-powered offerings.

Yotpo

Is laying off about 200 employees, roughly 34% of its global workforce, as it shuts down its email and SMS marketing operations. The Israeli-founded unicorn is partnering with Attentive and Omnisend to continue supporting marketing services while investing in AI-powered tools like automated review summaries, smart sorting, and a new Loyalty Tiers system.

Windsurf

Laid off 30 employees and is now offering buyouts to the remaining 200. The AI coding startup recently acquired by Cognition has had a rocky stretch, including a near-acquisition by OpenAI and a reverse-acqui-hire by Google that saw key talent depart before Cognition stepped in. Despite initial promises to value Windsurf’s team, the deal now looks more focused on the startup’s intellectual property than its people.

Wondery

Is cutting 100 jobs, and its CEO, Jen Sargent, is departing. Amazon is reorganizing its audio operations, moving Wondery’s audio-only podcasts under Audible and placing video-focused shows into a new Creator Services division. Amazon acquired Wondery in 2020.

July

Atlassian

Has cut 150 roles in customer service and support, following enhancements to its platform and tools that have significantly reduced support needs. The decision came via a prerecorded message from CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes, just hours before co-founder Scott Farquhar urged Australia to embrace an “AI revolution” and move beyond “jobs of the past” in an Australian Press Club address. The Australian software firm was founded 2002.

Consensys

Is cutting about 7% of its workforce, or 47 employees, as part of a push toward profitability, Bloomberg reports. The decision follows the recent acquisition of a startup with around 30 staff, who will stay on with the company. Despite the cuts, the blockchain software company that operates the popular digital wallet MetaMask says it will continue hiring for select roles.

Zeen

Is shutting down operations, per a report by Business Insider. The social collaging platform aimed at creators was founded in 2019 and raised $9 million in funding. Its closure highlights the persistent challenges social media startups face in building user bases and achieving long-term growth.

Scale AI

Is laying off around 200 employees — roughly 14% of its workforce — and severing ties with 500 global contractors. The cuts come just weeks after Meta brought in the data-labeling startup’s CEO in a $14.3 billion deal.

Lenovo

Plans to cut more than 100 U.S. full-time jobs, about 3% of its workforce, including positions at its Morrisville, North Carolina, campus. As of February 2024, the PC maker employed around 5,100 workers in the U.S.

Intel

Is reportedly planning to lay off nearly 2,400 workers in Oregon, which is almost five times more than what was announced earlier this week. Last week, Intel announced that it will lay off more than 500 employees in Oregon, which is about 20% of its workforce, per Bloomberg.  

Indeed + Glassdoor

Plan to eliminate approximately 1,300 jobs combined as part of a larger restructuring effort to combine their operations and focus on AI. The layoff will mostly affect employees in the U.S., particularly in the R&D, HR, and sustainability teams, according to an internal memo by Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba, the CEO of Recruit Holdings, which is the Japanese parent company of Indeed and Glassdoor.

Eigen Lab

Has laid off 29 employees as part of its reorganization, per a report by Blockworks. The Seattle-based research and engineering startup recently launched EigenCloud, a platform that provides blockchain-level trust guarantees for any Web 2.0 or web3 application. The reduction will affect 25% of the company’s workforce. Eigen Labs said it had raised $70 million in tokens from a16z Crypto in June.

Microsoft

Will cut 9,000 employees, which is less than 4% of its global workforce across teams, role types, and geographies. The reduction follows a series of layoffs earlier this year: It cut less than 1% of the headcount in January, more than 6,000 in May, and at least 300 in June.

ByteDance

Is laying off 65 employees in Bellevue, Washington, according to media reports. The parent company of TikTok arrived in Seattle in 2021 and has been expanding its presence there by growing its TikTok Shop online shopping division.

June

TomTom

Announced on June 30 that the company is cutting 300 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, as part of organizational restructuring within its sales and support divisions amid the AI shift. The startup is an Amsterdam-based location tech startup that provides navigation and mapping products.

Rivian

Has reduced its headcount by approximately 140 employees, accounting for roughly 1% of its total workforce. The recent layoffs mostly affected Rivian’s manufacturing team.

Bumble

Announced in an SEC filing that it will cut approximately 240 jobs, or 30% of its workforce, to enhance operational efficiency and allocate the resulting savings to the development of new products and technologies, according to a CNBC report. The layoff will help the online dating app save $40 million annually, per the report.

Klue

Has reportedly laid off 85 employees, which accounts for approximately 40% of its workforce. The Vancouver-based startup sells software products that use artificial intelligence for business intelligence. It helps sales professionals at tech companies gather information on competitors to improve their sales.

Google

Has downsized its smart TV division by 25% of its 300-member team to adjust its strategy, per reports. Funding for the smart TV division, including Google TV and Android TV, has been cut by 10%, but investment in AI projects has been raised.

Intel

Says that it plans to lay off 15% to 20% of workers in its Intel Foundry division starting in July. Intel Foundry designs, manufactures, and packages semiconductors for external clients. Intel’s total workforce was 108,900 people as of December 2024, according to the company’s annual regulatory filing. It also confirmed to TechCrunch that it plans to wind down its auto business.

Playtika

Announced that it is letting go of around 90 employees, with 40 in Israel and 50 in Poland. The most recent round of job cuts comes after the Israel-based gaming company laid off 50 employees a few weeks ago.

Airtime

Has let go of around 25 employees from the 58-person team, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Evernote’s founder Phil Libin launched the video startup in 2020, offering Airtime Creator and Airtime Camera.

Microsoft

Is laying off more employees, just a few weeks after announcing a job cut of over 6,500 in May, which was around 3% of its global workforce. The most recent layoffs affected software engineers, product managers, technical program managers, marketers, and legal counsels.

May

Hims & Hers

Plans to downsize its workforce by letting go of 68 employees, approximately 4% of its total staff, per Reuters. The San Francisco telehealth platform said that its layoffs were unrelated to a U.S. ban on producing large quantities of the weight-loss drug Wegovy. The startup said it intends to keep on recruiting employees who fit in with its long-term expansion plans.

Amazon

Is reportedly laying off around 100 employees from its devices and services division, which encompasses various businesses like the Alexa voice assistant, Echo smart speakers, Ring video doorbells, and Zoox robotaxis. The company has reduced its workforce by approximately 27,000 since the start of 2022 to cut costs.

Microsoft

Will cut over 6,500 jobs, affecting 3% of its worldwide workforce. As of June, the Seattle-headquartered company had a total of 228,000 employees globally. It would be one of the company’s biggest layoffs since it cut 10,000 employees in 2023.

Chegg

Reportedly plans to let go of 248 employees, or about 22% of its workforce, to reduce expenses and improve efficiency, it said. The San Francisco-based edtech startup, which offers textbook rentals and tutoring services, has seen a drop in web traffic for months as students opt for AI tools instead of traditional edtech platforms.

Match

Is reducing its workforce by 13% as part of a reorganization that aims to reduce costs, shore up margins, and streamline its organizational structure.

CrowdStrike

Is laying off 5% of its global workforce, or around 500 people. The company said the layoffs were part of “a strategic plan (the ‘Plan’) to evolve its operations to yield greater efficiencies as the Company continues to scale its business with focus and discipline to meet its goal of $10 billion in ending [Annual Recurring Revenue]” in its 8-K filing.

General Fusion

Has cut roughly 25% of its current workforce. The Vancouver-based company, which is developing a technology to generate fusion energy, has raised $440 million from investors, including Jeff Bezos, Temasek, and BDC Capital.

Deep Instinct

Reduced its headcount by 20 employees, accounting for 10% of its total workforce. In April 2023, the Israeli cybersecurity startup had previously laid off a similar number of employees during a round of layoffs.

Beam

Has shut down its operations months after announcing major expansion plans, per Sifted. The British climate startup has let go of approximately 200 employees, according to a LinkedIn post by James Reynolds, the head of talent.

April

NetApp

Is reportedly eliminating 700 jobs, affecting 6% of its total workforce, as it reorganizes for its operational efficiency. The company, based in San Francisco, provides data storage, cloud services, and CloudOps solutions for businesses.

Electronic Arts

Is reportedly letting go of approximately 300 to 400 employees, including around 100 at Respawn Entertainment, to focus on its “long-term strategic priorities,” according to Bloomberg.

Expedia

Is laying off around 3% of its employees as part of its restructuring. The job cuts will mainly affect midlevel positions in the product and technology teams. The latest round of layoffs comes after the company let go of hundreds of employees from its marketing team globally in early March.

Cars24

Has reduced its workforce by about 200 employees in its product and technology divisions as part of a restructuring measure. The India-based e-commerce platform for pre-owned vehicles provides a range of services like buying and selling pre-owned cars, financing, insurance, driver-on-demand, and more. In 2023, the SoftBank-backed startup raised $450 million at a valuation of $3.3 billion.

Meta

Is letting go of over 100 employees in its Reality Labs division, which manages virtual reality and wearable technology, according to The Verge. The job cuts affect employees developing VR experiences for Meta’s Quest headsets and staff working on hardware operations to streamline similar work between the two teams.

Intel

Announced its plan to lay off more than 21,000 employees, or roughly 20% of its workforce, in April. The move comes ahead of Intel’s Q1 earnings call helmed by recently appointed CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took over from longtime chief Pat Gelsinger last year.

GM

Is laying off 200 people at its Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck facility in Michigan, which produces GM’s electric vehicles. The cuts come amid the EV slowdown and is not caused by tariffs, according to a report.

Zopper

Has reportedly let go of around 100 employees since the start of 2025. Earlier this week, about 50 employees from the tech and product teams were let go in the latest round of job cuts. The India-based insurtech startup has raised a total of $125 million to date.

Turo

Will reduce its workforce by 150 positions following its decision not to proceed with its IPO, per Bloomberg. The San Francisco-based car rental startup, which had about 1,000 staff in 2024, said the layoffs will bolster its long-term growth plans during economic uncertainty.

GupShup

Laid off roughly 200 employees to improve efficiency and profitability. It’s the startup’s second round of layoffs in five months, following the job cuts of around 300 employees in December. The conversational AI company, backed by Tiger Global and Fidelity, was last valued at $1.4 billion in 2021. The startup is based in San Francisco and operates in India.

Forto

Has reportedly eliminated 200 jobs, affecting around one-third of its employees. The German logistics startup reduced a significant number of sales staff.

Wicresoft

Will stop its operations in China, affecting around 2,000 employees. The move came after Microsoft decided to end outsourcing after-sales support to Wicresoft amid increasing trade tensions. Wicresoft, Microsoft’s first joint venture in China, was founded in 2022 and operates in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. It has over 10,000 employees.

Five9

Plans to cut 123 jobs, affecting about 4% of its workforce, according to a report by MarketWatch. The software company prioritizes key strategic areas like artificial intelligence for profitable growth.

Google

Has laid off hundreds of employees in its platforms and devices division, which covers Android, Pixel phones, the Chrome browser, and more, according to The Information.

Microsoft

Is contemplating additional layoffs that could happen by May, Business Insider reported, citing anonymous sources. The company is said to be discussing reducing the number of middle managers and non-coders in a bid to increase the ratio of programmers to product managers.

Automattic

The WordPress.com developer is laying off 16% of its workforce across departments. Before the layoffs, the company’s website showed it had 1,744 employees, so more than 270 staff may have been laid off.

Canva

Has let go of 10 to 12 technical writers approximately nine months after telling its employees to use generative AI tools wherever possible. The company, which had around 5,500 staff in 2024, was valued at $26 billion after a secondary stock sale in 2024.

March

Northvolt

Has laid off 2,800 employees, affecting 62% of its total staff. The layoffs come weeks after the embattled Swedish battery maker filed for bankruptcy.

Block

Let go of 931 employees, around 8% of its workforce, as part of a reorganization, according to an internal email seen by TechCrunch. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and CEO of the fintech company, wrote in the email that the layoffs were not for financial reasons or to replace workers with AI.

Brightcove

Has laid off 198 employees, who make up about two-thirds of its U.S. workforce, per a media report. The layoff comes a month after the company was acquired by Bending Spoons, an Italian app developer, for $233 million. Brightcove had 600 employees worldwide, with 300 in the U.S., as of December 2023.

Acxiom

Has reportedly laid off 130 employees, or 3.5% of its total workforce of 3,700 people. Acxiom is owned by IPG, and the news comes just a day after IPG and Omnicom Group shareholders approved the companies’ potential merger.

Sequoia Capital

Plans to close its office in Washington, D.C., and let go of its policy team there by the end of March, TechCrunch has confirmed. Sequoia opened its Washington office five years ago to deepen its relationship with policymakers. Three full-time employees are expected to be affected, per Forbes.

Siemens

Announced plans to let go of approximately 5,600 jobs globally in its automation and electric-vehicle charging businesses as part of efforts to improve competitiveness.

HelloFresh

Is reportedly laying off 273 employees, closing its distribution center in Grand Prairie, Texas, and consolidating to another site in Irving to manage the volume in the region.

Otorio

Has cut 45 employees, more than half of its workforce, after being acquired by cybersecurity company Armis for $120 million in March.

ActiveFence

Will reportedly reduce 22 employees, representing 7% of its workforce. Most of those affected are based in Israel as the company undergoes a streamlining process. The New York- and Tel Aviv-headquartered cybersecurity firm has raised $100 million at a valuation of about $500 million in 2021.

D-ID

Will cut 22 jobs, affecting nearly a quarter of its total workforce, following the announcement of the AI startup’s strategic partnership with Microsoft.

NASA

Announced it will be shutting down several of its offices in accordance with Elon Musk’s DOGE, including its Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy and the DEI branch in the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity.

Zonar Systems

Has reportedly laid off some staff, according to LinkedIn posts from ex-employees. The company has not confirmed the layoffs, and it is currently unknown how many workers were affected.

Wayfair

Announced plans to let go of 340 employees in its technology division as part of a new restructuring effort.

HPE

Will cut 2,500 employees, or 5% of its total staff, in response to its shares sliding 19% in the first fiscal quarter.

TikTok

Will cut up to 300 workers in Dublin, accounting for roughly 10% of the company’s workforce in Ireland. 

LiveRamp

Announced it will lay off 65 employees, affecting 5% of its total workforce.

Ola Electric

Is reportedly set to lay off over 1,000 employees and contractors in a cost-cutting effort. It’s the second round of cuts for the company in just five months.

Rec Room

Reduced its total headcount by 16% as the gaming startup shifts its focus to be “scrappier” and “more efficient.”

ANS Commerce

Was shut down just three years after it was acquired by Flipkart. It is currently unknown how many employees were affected.

February

HP

Will cut up to 2,000 jobs as part of its “Future Now” restructuring plan that hopes to save the company $300 million before the end of its fiscal year.

GrubHub

Announced 500 job cuts after it was sold to Wonder Group for $650 million. The number of cuts affected more than 20% of its previous workforce. 

Autodesk

Announced plans to lay off 1,350 employees, affecting 9% of its total workforce, in an attempt to reshape its GTM model. The company is also making reductions in its facilities, though it does not plan to close any offices.

Google

Is planning to cut employees in its People Operations and cloud organizations teams in a new reorganization effort. The company is offering a voluntary exit program to U.S.-based People Operations employees.

Nautilus

Reduced its headcount by 25 employees, accounting for 16% of its total workforce. The company is planning to release a commercial version of its proteome analysis platform in 2026.

eBay

Will reportedly cut a few dozen employees in Israel, potentially affecting 10% of its 250-person workforce in the country.

Starbucks

Cut 1,100 jobs in a reorganizing effort that affected its tech workers. The coffee chain will now outsource some tech work to third-party employees.

Commercetools

Laid off dozens of employees over the last few weeks, including around 10% of staff in one day, after failing to meet its sales growth targets. The “headless commerce” platform raised money at a $1.9 billion valuation just a few years ago.

Dayforce

Will cut roughly 5% of its current workforce in a new efficiency drive to increase profitability and growth.

Expedia

Laid off more employees in a new effort to cut costs, though the total number is unknown. Last year, the travel giant cut about 1,500 roles in its Product & Technology division.

Skybox Security

Has ceased operations and has laid off its employees after selling its business and technology to Israeli cybersecurity company Tufin. The cuts affect roughly 300 people. 

HerMD

Is shutting down its operations after shifting from a brick-and-mortar model to a fully virtual women’s healthcare provider. The startup, which raised $18 million in 2023, has not disclosed how many employees are affected, saying recent layoffs were tied to its former in-person business.

Zendesk

Cut 51 jobs in its San Francisco headquarters, according to state filings with the Employment Development Department. The SaaS startup previously reduced its headcount by 8% in 2023.

Vendease

Has cut 120 employees, affecting 44% of its total staff. It’s the Y Combinator-backed Nigerian startup’s second layoff round in just five months.

Logically

Reportedly laid off dozens of employees as part of a new cost-cutting effort that aims to ensure “long-term success” in the startup’s mission to curb misinformation online.

Blue Origin

Will lay off about 10% of its workforce, affecting more than 1,000 employees. According to an email to staff obtained by CNN, the cuts will largely have an impact on positions in engineering and program management. 

Redfin

Announced in an SEC filing that it will cut around 450 positions between February and July 2025, with a complete restructuring set to be completed in the fall, following its new partnership with Zillow.

Sophos

Is laying off 6% of its total workforce, the cybersecurity firm confirmed to TechCrunch. The cuts come less than two weeks after Sophos acquired Secureworks for $859 million.

Zepz

Will cut nearly 200 employees as it introduces redundancy measures and closes down its operations in Poland and Kenya.

Unity

Reportedly conducted another round of layoffs. It’s unknown how many employees were affected.

JustWorks

Cut nearly 200 employees, CEO Mike Seckler announced in a note to employees, citing “potential adverse events” like a recession or rising interest rates.

Bird

Cut 120 jobs, affecting roughly one-third of its total workforce, TechCrunch exclusively learned. The move comes just a year after the Dutch startup cut 90 employees following its rebrand.

Sprinklr

Laid off about 500 employees, affecting 15% of its workforce, citing poor business performance. The new cuts follow two earlier layoff rounds for the company that affected roughly 200 employees.

Sonos

Reportedly let go of approximately 200 employees, according to The Verge. The company previously cut 100 employees as part of a layoff round in August 2024. 

Workday

Laid off 1,750 employees, as originally reported by Bloomberg and confirmed independently by TechCrunch. The cuts affect roughly 8.5% of the enterprise HR platform’s total headcount.

Okta

Laid off 180 employees, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The cuts come just over one year after the access and identity management giant let go of 400 workers.

Cruise

Is laying off 50% of its workforce, including CEO Marc Whitten and several other top executives, as it prepares to shut down operations. What remains of the autonomous vehicle company will move under General Motors.

Salesforce

Is reportedly eliminating more than 1,000 jobs. The cuts come as the giant is actively recruiting and hiring workers to sell new AI products.

January

Cushion

Has shut down operations, CEO Paul Kesserwani announced on LinkedIn. The fintech startup’s post-money valuation in 2022 was $82.4 million, according to PitchBook.

Placer.ai

Laid off 150 employees based in the U.S., affecting roughly 18% of its total workforce, in an effort to reach profitability.

Amazon

Laid off dozens of workers in its communications department in order to help the company “move faster, increase ownership, strengthen our culture, and bring teams closer to customers.”

Stripe

Is laying off 300 people, according to a leaked memo reported by Business Insider. However, according to the memo, the fintech giant is planning to grow its total headcount by 17%. 

Textio

Laid off 15 employees as the augmented writing startup undergoes a restructuring effort.

Pocket FM

Is cutting 75 employees in an effort to “ensure the long-term sustainability and success” of the company. The audio company last cut 200 writers in July 2024 months after partnering with ElevenLabs.

Aurora Solar

Is planning to cut 58 employees in response to an “ongoing macroeconomic challenges and continued uncertainty in the solar industry.”

Meta

Announced in an internal memo that it will cut 5% of its staff targeting “low performers” as the company prepares for “an intense year.” As of its latest quarterly report, Meta currently has more than 72,000 employees.

Wayfair

Will cut up to 730 jobs, affecting 3% of its total workforce, as it plans to exit operations in Germany and focus on physical retailers.

Pandion

Is shutting down its operations, affecting 63 employees. The delivery startup said employees will be paid through January 15 without severance.

Icon

Is laying off 114 employees as part of a team realignment, per a new WARN notice filing, focusing its efforts on a robotic printing system.

Altruist

Eliminated 37 jobs, affecting roughly 10% of its total workforce, even as the company pursues “aggressive” hiring.

Aqua Security

Is cutting dozens of employees across its global markets as part of a strategic reorganization to increase profitability.

SolarEdge Technologies

Plans to lay off 400 employees globally. It’s the company’s fourth layoff round since January 2024 as the solar industry as a whole faces a downturn.

Level

The fintech startup, founded in 2018, abruptly shut down earlier this year. Per an email from CEO Paul Aaron, the closure follows an unsuccessful attempt to find a buyer, though Employer.com has a new offer under consideration to acquire the company post-shutdown.

This list updates regularly.

On April 24, 2025, we corrected the number of layoffs that happened in March.

SOURCE PAGE

A billionaire investor keen on buying TikTok’s US operations has told the BBC he has been left in limbo as the latest deadline for the app’s sale looms.

The US has repeatedly delayed the date by which the platform’s Chinese owner, Bytedance, must sell or be blocked for American users.

US President Donald Trump appears poised to extend the deadline for a fifth time on Tuesday.

“We’re just standing by and waiting to see what happens,” investor Frank McCourt told BBC News.

“But if the moment arrives, we’re prepared to move forward… we’ve raised the capital to buy it – we’ll see.”

The popular short-form video app was due to be banned or sold in the US in January in accordance with a law passed by Congress in 2024.

Lawmakers said at the time ByteDance’s links to the Chinese government threatened national security, and expressed fears Beijing could force the company to hand over data on US users.

It’s a concern TikTok and its owners have always said is unfounded.

The law was signed by President Joe Biden while he was still in office and was upheld by the Supreme Court in early 2025.

Trump and members of his administration have previously claimed a TikTok deal was done, and had the blessing of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The president has also said “sophisticated” US investors would acquire the app, including two of his allies: Oracle chairman Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies’ Michael Dell.

Members of the Trump administration had indicated the deal would be formalised in a meeting between Trump and Xi in October – however it concluded without an agreement being reached.

Neither TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance nor Beijing have since announced approval of a sale, despite Trump’s claims.

This time there are no such claims a deal is imminent, leading most analysts to conclude another extension is inevitable.

Without naming Trump’s hand-selected investors, Mr McCourt told the BBC he was concerned “about a concentration of power and influence because platforms like TikTok are very influencing”.

He is part of a group of investors including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and Canadian investor Kevin O’Leary.

“My hope would be that whatever happens, that it is shut down or sold, and lands in the hands of people that comply with the law,” he said.

He said he wants to operate TikTok without any of its Chinese technology, including its powerful recommendation algorithm, and that his non-profit Project Liberty has developed other technology that could be used instead.

SOURCE PAGE

The robot swerved through the cafeteria of Rivian’s Palo Alto office, shelves adorned with chilled canned coffees — until it didn’t. Five minutes later, a man carefully pushed it out of everyone’s way, the words “I’m stuck” flashing yellow on the poor droid’s screen.

It was an inauspicious start to Rivian’s “Autonomy & AI Day,” a showcase for the company’s plans to make its vehicles capable of driving themselves. Rivian doesn’t make the cafeteria robot and isn’t responsible for its abilities, but there was a familiar message in its foibles: this stuff is hard.

Hours later, as I rode in a 2025 R1S SUV during my 15-minute demo of Rivian’s new self-described “Large Driving Model,” I was reminded of that message.

The EV equipped with the automated-driving software drove myself and two Rivian employees on a switchback route near the company’s campus. As we glided past Tesla’s engineering office, I noticed a Model S in front of us slow to turn into the rival company’s lot. The R1S eventually noticed this, too, braking hard just before the Rivian employee nearly intervened.

During my demo drive, there was one actual disengagement. The employee in the driver’s seat took over as we passed through a one-lane section of road due to some tree-trimming. Minor stuff overall. But it wasn’t exactly rare either; I spotted multiple other demo rides that had disengagements too.

The rest of the drive went well enough for software that is not ready to be shipped, especially when you consider that Rivian threw out its old rules-based driver assistance system and adopted an end-to-end approach — which is how Tesla developed Full Self-Driving (Supervised). It stopped at stoplights, it handled turns, it slowed for speed bumps, all without programmed rules telling it to do these things.

A quiet pivot in 2021

Image Credits:Rivian

Rivian’s old system “was all very deterministic, and it was all very structured,” CEO RJ Scaringe said in an interview Thursday. “Everything that the vehicle did was the result of a prescribed control strategy written by humans.”

Techcrunch event

San Francisco
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October 13-15, 2026

Scaringe said that when Rivian saw transformer-based artificial intelligence taking off in 2021, he quietly “reconstituted the team and started with a clean sheet and said, let’s design our self-driving platform for an AI-centric world.”

After spending “a lot of time in the basement,” Rivian launched the new ground-up driving software in 2024 on its second-generation R1 vehicles, which use Nvidia’s Orin processors.

Scaringe said it was only recently that his company started to see dramatic progress “once the data started really pouring in.”

Rivian is betting it can train its Large Driving Model (LDM) on fleet data so quickly that it will allow the company to roll out what it calls “Universal Hands-Free” driving in early 2026. That means Rivian owners will be able to take their hands off the wheel on 3.5 million miles of roads in the U.S. and Canada (so long as there are visible painted lines). In the back half of 2026 Rivian will allow “point-to-point” driving, or the consumer version of the demo we received Thursday.

The ‘eyes off’ to ‘hands off’ challenge

By the end of 2026, after Rivian has started shipping its smaller, more affordable R2 SUVs, it will ditch the Nvidia chips and outfit those vehicles with a new custom autonomy computer unveiled Thursday. That computer, plus a lidar sensor, will eventually allow drivers to take their hands and eyes off the road. True autonomy — where a driver doesn’t have to worry about re-taking control of the vehicle — lies well beyond that and will largely depend on how fast Rivian can train its LDM.

This rollout introduces a near-term challenge for Rivian. The new autonomy computer and lidar won’t be ready until months after the R2 goes on sale. If customers want a vehicle that can handle eyes-off driving (or more), they’ll have to wait. But the R2 is a crucial product for Rivian, and the company needs it to sell well — especially in the wake of declining sales of its first-generation vehicles.

“When tech is moving as fast as it is, there’s always going to be some level of obsolescence, and so what we want to do here is to be really direct” about what’s coming, Scaringe said. The early R2s will still get Rivian’s promised “point-to-point” driving, which will be based on the new software and will be hands-off but not eyes-off.

“So [if] you’re buying an R2 and you buy it in the first nine months, it’s just going to be more constrained,” he said. “I think what will happen is some customers will say ‘that matters a lot to me, and I’m going to wait.’ And some will say ‘I want the newest, best things now, and I’m going to get the R2 now, and maybe I’ll trade it in a year or two, and I’ll get the next version later. Fortunately, there’s so much demand backlog for R2 that we think, by being upfront with this, customers can make the decision themselves.”

“In a perfect world, everything times at the same time, but the timeline of the vehicle and the timeline of the autonomy platform are just not perfectly aligned,” he said.

When I first interviewed Scaringe in 2018, before Rivian even showed what its vehicles looked like, he shared a goal that still rattles around my head. He wanted to make Rivian’s vehicles so capable of driving themselves that: “if you go for a hike, and you start at one point and you finish at another point, you have the vehicle meet you at the end of the trail.”

It was the kind of pie-in-the-sky promise about self-driving cars that was all the rage seven years ago, but it stuck with me at least because it was something that felt true to Rivian’s whole brand of aspirational adventure.

Scaringe told me Thursday he still thinks it’s possible for Rivian to enable a use case like that in the next few years. It certainly won’t happen until the company tests and builds its more-capable R2 vehicles, which is at least a year away in a best-case scenario.

“We could [do that]. It’s not been a huge focus,” he said. That could change as the company gets closer to level 4 autonomy, though, since by then the company will have its LDM trained on trickier roads without guiding features like lane lines.

“Then, it becomes a bit of a like, what’s the ODD [operational design domain]? Dirt roads, off road? Easy,” he said. Just don’t expect a Rivian driving itself up Hell’s Gate in Moab.

“We’re not putting any resources into rock crawling autonomously,” he said. “But in terms of getting to the trail head? For sure.”

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Katy WatsonAustralia correspondent , Perth

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Critics say gaming platforms should be included in Australia’s ban on social media for under-16s

Wednesday afternoons have become a ritual for 15-year-old Sadmir Perviz. It’s a circuitous route from home in Perth to the Fiona Stanley Hospital – but it’s worth it, he says, to sit down for a game of Dungeons & Dragons with people he may not know but with whom he shares a great deal in common.

Sadmir and his board game companions are just some of the 300 patients at the gaming disorder clinic, Australia’s only publicly-run institution of its type, helping patients wean themselves off excessive online gaming habits.

The room where they meet is a simple space in a faceless hospital but in the corner, there’s a pile of boardgames on a chair. Jenga, Uno and Sushi Go are also popular choices at the informal group which is attended by both patients and clinicians.

It’s a bit of a departure for the 15-year-old who until a couple of months ago preferred to play games with friends online for 10 hours a day.

“It feels completely different,” says Sadmir. “You get to roll the dice instead of clicking a button. You can interact with people, so you actually know who’s there rather than just being on a call with random people.”

Dr Daniela Vecchio, the psychiatrist who set up the clinic, says that while gaming isn’t bad in itself, it can become a problem – an addiction even.

Gaming platforms and social media pose similar risks for children: excessive time spent online, and potential exposure to predators, harmful content or bullying.

So she wonders why gaming platforms have not been included in Australia’s “world-first” social media ban for under-16s.

The ban, which came into force on Wednesday, is supposed to prevent teens from having accounts on 10 social media platforms including Instagram, Snapchat and X. Children will still be able to access platforms like YouTube and TikTok, but without accounts.

For Vecchio, the omission of gaming platforms is odd.

“It doesn’t make much sense,” she says.

“Gaming and social media are so interconnected, it’s very difficult to separate.

“The individual who plays games for excessive amounts of time also spends excessive amounts of time on social media platforms where they can see other gamers or can live stream gaming, so it’s a way to connect.”

Dr Daniela Vecchio runs Australia’s only publicly funded clinic for gaming disorder clinic

Sadmir, for example, spent much of his time on the gaming platform Steam, as well as YouTube. Dr Vecchio singles out the platforms Discord and Roblox as particular worries – a concern echoed by many experts and parents the BBC has spoken to in covering the ban and its impact.

Both Roblox and Discord have been dogged by claims that some children are being exposed to explicit or harmful content through them and are facing lawsuits relating to child safety in the US.

Roblox introduced new age assurance features in Australia and two other countries weeks before the social media ban kicked in, with the checks due to be rolled out to the rest of the world in January. The checks will “help us provide positive, age-appropriate experiences for all users on Roblox”, the company said.

Discord also introduced age checks on some features earlier this year and on Wednesday said it was introducing a new “teen-by-default” setting for all Australian users.

The ‘wild west of internet usage’

Former gaming clinic patient Kevin Koo, 35, wonders whether a social media ban could have influenced the access he got at a younger age.

“I was growing up in the wild west of internet usage so, there weren’t any restrictions,” he says. “I got free rein on the internet basically. So I think that for me, the damage has already been done.”

A former quantum finance intern interested in AI, Mr Koo lost his job just before the pandemic. Living in Sydney, he had no family nearby and no regular work. He says he lost confidence and ended up consumed by online gaming, likening his experience to substance abuse.

Dr Vecchio agrees with the comparison – if she had her way, she’d be tempted not just to expand the social media ban to gaming but to raise the age to 18.

Gaming disorder is also now recognised by the World Health Organisation as an official diagnosis and, according to a 2022 Macquarie University study, around 2.8% of Australian children are affected by it. Vecchio thinks the number at risk is higher.

Kevin Koo, 35, wonders whether he might have benefited from a social media ban

The Australian government says its ban is about protecting kids from harmful content, cyberbullying, online grooming and “predatory algorithms” among other things – some or all of which could arguably be said to exist with gaming platforms.

The Australia Federal Police are among those who have warned chatrooms on these sites are hotbeds for radicalisation and child exploitation.

But, as the eSafety Commissioner said last month, the legislation enforcing the ban means platforms were not selected according to “safety, a harms or risk-based assessment”.

Instead, platforms have been selected according to three criteria: whether the platform’s sole or “significant purpose” is to enable online social interaction between two or more users; whether it allows users to interact with some or all other users; and whether it allows users to post.

Exceptions were made for gaming, for example, because its primary purpose is not social-media style interaction.

The law, say some experts, makes no sense.

“It’s incompetence, it’s reactionary,” says Marcus Carter, professor of human-computer interaction at the University of Sydney.

“Social interaction is not a bad thing… There are a bunch of probably legitimate concerns about these big tech platforms and what they are affording children and what they are exposing them to so as a result we’ve said we are banning social media.

“I just wish the government was trying to figure out how to help rather than put a band-aid on a bullet wound,” he says.

Watch: Australia’s social media ban explained… in 60 seconds

Tama Leaver, professor of internet studies at Curtin University and chief investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, also says the ban on social media is too blunt a tool – instead a more nuanced approach is needed, including towards gaming platforms.

“There is such a wide spectrum of gaming from incredibly positive, nurturing, fun, creative, expressive spaces – something like Minecraft comes to mind where it’s had so many positive uses.” However, platforms like Roblox are at the other end of the spectrum, he says.

“Roblox isn’t a game. It’s a series of enabling tools for other people to make games. And we know that some of the games that have been made that clearly feel like they’re meant for adults have been accessed by very young people.”

On Professor Leaver’s desk at the university are three plushies with inbuilt ChatGPT inside them. On the box, it says they are suitable for three and above. This, he says, has also gone too far.

“I do think there needs to be age-appropriate regulation,” he says, referring to young people going online. “I do think we’re at a moment, and it’s not just Australia, you look across the EU, there is huge appetite for all sorts of regulation.”

A treatment plan, not a cure

In Mr Koo’s case, for example, his vice wasn’t just gaming. It was AI chatbots, another feature of online life that has come under scrutiny for everything from making things up to allegedly encouraging children to kill themselves.

There is evidence they are designed to manipulate users into prolonging interactions and their use has even given rise to a new phenomenon called AI psychosis, in which people increasingly rely on AI chatbots and then become convinced that something imaginary has become real.

Mr Koo also started googling his mental health issues and relying on AI to help confirm his diagnoses.

“You’re Googling stuff that you think you already know and then you kind of tick the box after that saying, oh, I’ve already done my work for today, my therapy work with ChatGPT,” he says. Mr Koo suffered a psychotic episode and after extensive therapy with a professional, he now takes a different approach.

“I might Google or ChatGPT something and then I’ll check it with my therapist in person,” he says. “I do think being able to read human emotions and having that face-to-face conversation with someone is completely different.”

The government has said it will continually review the list of banned platforms and at the end of November added Twitch, a streaming platform where people typically play video games while chatting to viewers.

Communications Minister Anika Wells also told the BBC last week that the eSafety Commissioner “definitely has her eye on Roblox”. And, she said, the social media ban “isn’t a cure, it’s a treatment plan” that will “always evolve”.

The demand for platforms to do better is growing. So too are the queues of families waiting to get help at the gaming disorder clinic, but Vecchio has to turn them away.

“[The legislation] is excluding platforms where children interact with many others and some of them can be people who harm them,” says Vecchio. “Children need to be protected, they need to be safeguarded.”

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Following this week’s seizure of a sanctioned ship off the coast of Venezuela, the Trump administration says it will be targeting more oil tankers off the Venezuelan coast. This is, first and foremost, a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign targeting Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, whom the White House accuses of facilitating drug trafficking into the United States.

But it’s also the latest salvo in a campaign by Western governments to crack down on the so-called shadow fleet that has allowed countries like Venezuela, Russia, and Iran to continue participating in the global oil trade, despite international sanctions. In the past few days, there’s been yet another major escalation in this campaign, off the coast of Ukraine.

As Vox reported last year, the shadow fleet has been operating for years. Shadow fleet vessels tend to have opaque ownership; the nominal owner is often little more than a PO Box in the Seychelles or Dubai. The ships operate without standard insurance, are often older and less well-maintained than their above-board counterparts, and frequently manipulate their transponders and navigation system to avoid detection. They frequently change names and what country’s flag they sail under.

Case in point, the vessel seized by the US this week was sailing under the name Skipper and the flag of Guyana — but it had been sanctioned by the Biden administration in 2022 when it was known as the Adisa and flew the flag of Panama. As the Washington Post reported, the ship allegedly made several trips in and out of Iran last year along with stops in China and Syria, but it frequently turned off its data location transmission to prevent tracking. It had been operating off the coast of Venezuela since October, but had electronically masked its location, so it appeared to be off the coast of Guyana.

According to analysts quoted by Reuters, the Skipper was loaded with oil in Venezuela at the beginning of December and had transferred some of it to another tanker bound for Cuba shortly before it was seized. Cuba has been dependent for years on oil exports from its ideological ally Venezuela. While Cuba long relied on its own tankers for this trade, lack of maintenance has forced it to rely on the shadow fleet. Crumbling infrastructure and sanctions have taken a toll on Cuba’s energy system, and blackouts have become common. For the United States, increasing the pressure on Cuba’s economy could be seen as an added bonus of targeting the shadow fleet.

Globally, the issue has taken on a much greater prominence since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which triggered a range of international sanctions meant to deprive the Kremlin of energy revenue. As Atlantic Council senior fellow Elisabeth Braw told Vox, Venezuela and Iran were long the main players in the shadow fleet, but “Russia’s involvement was a sort of quantum leap that brought this economy out of the shadows.” By some estimates, shadow vessels now account for around 20 percent of the entire global oil fleet — essentially a parallel global energy market.

Officials and analysts have been concerned about the shadow fleet not only because it provides an economic lifeline to these regimes, but also because of the risk that one of these decrepit, poorly maintained ships could be involved in an environmentally devastating spill, and that there would be no insurance company or accountable owner to clean it up.

As Slate’s Fred Kaplan notes, while the Trump administration has portrayed the Skipper seizure as part of its pressure campaign against Venezuela, it’s the sort of action you could imagine being taken by any administration. (The ship was originally sanctioned by Biden, after all.) It’s also notable in that the seizure was carried out by a law enforcement agency — the Coast Guard — in accordance with a seizure warrant. That differs from the recent strikes on alleged drug boats that were carried out by the military with virtually no legal authorization.

The Caribbean is also not the only place where the shadow fleet has come under attack in recent days. In the past two weeks, Ukrainian forces have struck five shadow fleet tankers carrying Russian oil: three in the Black Sea near the Ukrainian coast, one near Turkey, and one off the west coast of Africa.

This marks a shift in strategy for the Ukrainians, who have avoided hitting Russian commercial ships in recent years. Russia and Ukraine have been operating under an effective truce in strikes on Black Sea shipping since the early days of the war. The new attacks are a high-risk strategy, since they could lead to Russia retaliating against Ukrainian ships. The shift may be a sign of increasing desperation for the Ukrainians, who have been steadily losing territory to Russia on land and are under pressure from the Trump administration to sign a ceasefire that would likely include significant concessions to Russia.

The shadow fleet strikes also show one of the contradictions of Trump’s approach to the war: Though he has been pressuring Ukraine to back down at the negotiating table, his administration has been far more permissive than Biden’s when it comes to Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure. (There were fears under Biden that attacks like these could lead to a spike in oil prices.)

The timing of the US seizure in the Caribbean and the Ukrainian strikes in the Black Sea is almost certainly coincidental. This doesn’t appear to be a coordinated campaign. But both are reminders of the complex shadow economy that has sprung up in recent years in response to Washington’s increasing use of sanctions. And both may be a sign that much more aggressive measures are coming to crack down on that economy.

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A new discovery has rewritten the timeline of Egypt’s early dynasties, placing the rise of the New Kingdom nearly a century later than previously thought.

The New Kingdom, which lasted from 1550 to 1070 BCE, was Egypt’s peak of power, wealth, and territorial expansion, the era of famous rulers like Tutankhamun. 

It began with the 18th Dynasty, founded by Pharaoh Ahmose I, who reunited Egypt and expelled the Hyksos invaders, restoring central authority after a period of fragmentation.

Now, scientists have confirmed that the massive Santorini (Thera) volcanic eruption occurred before the reign of Ahmose, meaning the 18th Dynasty, and the New Kingdom itself, rose later than previously believed. 

Until now, historians had often assumed the eruption might have coincided with the early New Kingdom, and some researchers even tried to link it to specific pharaohs, including Hatshepsut, Thutmose III or Ahmose I.

The breakthrough comes from radiocarbon dating of Egyptian artifacts from the 17th and early 18th Dynasties. 

Researchers examined a mudbrick stamped with Ahmose’s name, a linen burial cloth, and wooden funerary figures called shabtis, all of which were directly tied to known pharaohs and their temples. 

Because these objects are anchored to specific historical contexts, their ages provide a reliable snapshot of the period. The study shows that the eruption predates these artifacts, reshaping how historians understand the rise of Egypt’s most powerful period.

By reanalyzing ancient Egyptian artifacts, like a brick stamped with a pharaoh’s seal, scientists were able to change the timeline

Scientists have confirmed that the massive Santorini (Thera) volcanic eruption occurred before the reign of Ahmose, meaning the 18th Dynasty, and the New Kingdom itself, rose later than previously believed 

The Santorini volcano, located about 75 miles north of Crete, is surrounded by the small islands of Thera, Therasia, and Aspronisi. 

Over time, it has produced many large, explosive eruptions, but the most famous occurred during the Late Minoan IA period, around 1600 to 1480 BC. 

This eruption buried the town of Akrotiri on southern Thera under thick layers of volcanic ash. 

Fine ash was carried by winds and fell as far away as eastern Crete, demonstrating the eruption’s enormous regional impact.

Traditionally, the Thera eruption has been linked to Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, with scholars using it as a rough marker for dating early New Kingdom events. 

However, the new radiocarbon analysis showed the eruption actually occurred earlier, during the Second Intermediate Period, a time before Egypt had fully reunited under Ahmose. 

This means that previous assumptions tying the eruption directly to the early New Kingdom were incorrect.

‘This study provides the first direct radiocarbon comparison between the Thera eruption and Egyptian artifacts from this transitional period,’ said the researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the University of Groningen.

Researchers examined a mudbrick stamped with Ahmose’s name, a linen burial cloth, and wooden funerary figures called shabtis (pictured), all of which were directly tied to known pharaohs and their temples

‘It allows us to anchor one of the most dramatic natural events in the eastern Mediterranean to Egypt’s own historical timeline for the first time.’

The findings carry broader implications for our understanding of the ancient world.

By showing that the eruption happened earlier than previously thought, historians and archaeologists can now reassess cultural and trade interactions between Egypt, Crete, and other Mediterranean regions.

This includes everything from the movement of goods and ideas to migrations prompted by natural disasters.

The research also demonstrated the power of modern science to reshape what we know about ancient history. 

Even civilizations studied for thousands of years, like Ancient Egypt, can have their timelines refined through new techniques and careful analysis. 

The results support the ‘low chronology’ model, which positions the start of the 18th Dynasty a bit later than previously thought. 

Photograph published in 1916, showing four 12th Dynasty shabtis and one shabti attributed by him to the 17th Dynasty

Pictured is the Khufu Pyramid, also known as the Great Pyramid, in Giza Pyramid Complex.

As lead author Hendrik J Bruins put it, “Our findings indicate that the Second Intermediate Period lasted considerably longer than traditional assessments, and the New Kingdom started later.” 

Although the adjustment is modest in years, it carries major historical significance.

Ahmose’s reunification of Egypt marks a critical turning point, and moving its date reshapes how scholars understand the political and cultural transformation that ushered in Egypt’s New Kingdom. 

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