The headcount at computer giant Dell is set to sink to its lowest in six years after the company confirmed it was axing more than 6,600 jobsthe latest in a spate of huge tech layoffs.

In a company-wide memo posted to Dell Technologies Blog titled Preparing for the road ahead, the organizations co-chief operating officer, Jeff Clarke, said the business is experiencing market conditions which continue to erode with an uncertain future.

He added: Unfortunately, with changes like this, some members of our team will be leaving the company. There is no tougher decision, but one we had to make for our long-term health and success.

Around 5% of the companys workforce will be impacted by the layoffs.

A spokesperson told Fortune that the company had previously rolled out a raft of cost-cutting measures, which have simply not done enough.

They added: Dell continuously assesses our business to ensure were set up to deliver the best innovation, value and service to our customers and partners. This is especially important as economic uncertainty has continued.

Since June, we paused external hiring and reduced spending to navigate a challenging global environment. We have further opportunity to drive efficiency through department reorganizations, which has resulted in a reduction of team members across the globe. This is a difficult decision that was not made lightly, and well support those impacted as they transition to their next opportunity.

Determined to find a silver lining, Clarke added the company had weathered such storms before and emerged stronger, adding: We will be ready when the market rebounds. The opportunities ahead of us are immense.

Clarkes blog also hinted at which teams will be seeing changes in the coming months, pointing at Regional Sales and Dell Technologies Select (DTS) teams as ones that will be aligned.

End of the PC boom?

However, comparatively to the rest of the market, Dell has the furthest to go toward recovery.

The company lucked out in the PC boom which came hand-in-hand with the pandemic, as employees and schoolchildren needed to find a way to work and learn from home.

Dell was named by tech researcher Gartner as among the six brands to cash in as the sector saw the fastest growth in 20 years.

Dells shipments contributed to the 69.9 million laptops and desktops which were still being shipped out as of the first quarter of 2021.

However, there has since been a major decline as staff return to the office and pupils to their desks.

According to IDCs data, Dell has seen the greatest drop in shipments between Q4 of 2022 and Q4 of 2021 compared to its major competitors.

Dell shifted 10.8 million units in the final quarter of last year and 17.2 million the same period the year before, a drop of more than 37%.

Comparatively, Apple has weathered the storm fairly well, seeing growth drop by just 2% from 7.7 million units to 7.5 million 12 months later.

Which other companies have announced layoffs?

At this point, it might be easier to identify companies that havent announced job cuts as opposed to those that have.

Last week Salesforce announced a second round of cuts having already axed 10pc of its family in January 2022. On Thursday Fortune reported the #all-salesforce Slack channel went from roughly 82,500 members on Feb. 1 to roughly 80,600 today, signaling that 1,900 workers may have been cut. 

Googles parent company Alphabet made a similar announcement last month.

On Jan. 20 CEO Sundar Pichai announced the firm would be laying off around 12,000 people with one employee on maternity leave saying she discovered her job had been axed when she was feeding her newborn daughter in the middle of the night.

At the end of January PayPal also conceded it needed to cut 2,000 employees, around 7% of its workforce.

At the end of January, Spotify announced it was cutting 6% of its workforce, with CEO Daniel EK saying he took full responsibility for the problems which lead to the news, adding: Like many other leaders, I hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our broad global business and lower risk to the impact of a slowdown in ads would insulate us. In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth.

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Employees at major Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. have just been given a new workplace perk: the freedom to pursue side hustles.

The publicly-listed company, which is headquartered in Japan but has more than 100 offices across 63 countries, told Bloomberg it had lifted its ban on employees earning money from other avenues.

After implementing policies on remote work and flexible work hours, we believed the time was right to do even more, so employees can pursue both career development and new working styles, Mitsui said in a statement, adding that additional jobs employees might pursue included working on a tech start-up, becoming a YouTuber or artist, or coaching.  

A spokesperson for Mitsui did not immediately respond to Fortunes request for comment.

Workers at the company would need approval from management before taking on a secondary job, the spokesperson said, noting that this would only be granted if bosses believed the additional revenue stream was coming from an activity that boosted the employees skillset.

According to Mitsuis most recent annual report, the average Mitsui employees annual salary comes in at just over 14.8 million yen (around $112,000). The average employee is 42 years old and has served a tenure of more than 18 years, according to the document.

The move was reportedly made in an effort to attract younger workers amid Japans entrenched population decline.

Growth of the side hustle

Younger workers are far more likely to take an interest in pursuing a side hustle than their older colleagues, research has shown.

A recent survey of 35,000 workers around the world found that one-third of Gen Z workers had taken on, or were considering taking on, an additional source of income on top of their day job.

Just 17% of Baby Boomers said the same thing.  

However, this figure could be even higher in the U.S.a poll of almost 5,000 American adults toward the end of last year found that 81% of Gen Z workers pursued or considered pursuing gig work to supplement their income last year, with 70% of all respondents saying they had chased or thought about starting a side hustle.

Many employers in Japan are wary of allowing their staff to take on second jobs because of the impact it could have on performance.

However, the Japanese government has made attempts to encourage companies not to prohibit additional jobs.

Last year, the government began asking companies that banned side hustles to explain their reasons for imposing such rules, with officials reportedly arguing that allowing second jobs would foster greater diversity in working practices.

According to recruitment giant Robert Walters, a 2016 study in Japan found that 69% of Japanese workers were interested in pursuing a side jobbut only 18% of companies already permitted their staff to do so.

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Social media users claim to have found a new culprit for sky-high egg prices: chicken feed.

The theory gained steam on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter in recent weeks, with some users reporting that their hens stopped laying eggs and speculating that common chicken feed products were the cause. Some went a step further to suggest that feed producers had intentionally made their products deficient to stop backyard egg production, forcing people to buy eggs at inflated prices.

One of the largest egg producers in the country cut a deal with one of the largest feed producers in the country to change their feed formula so it no longer contains enough protein and minerals for your chickens to produce eggs, one Facebook user wrote in a post shared more than 2,000 times. They are now price gouging eggs to make bank.

But poultry experts say theres no evidence for such claims. Heres a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Chicken feed companies have altered their products to stop backyard hens from laying eggs and drive up demand for commercial eggs.

THE FACTS: U.S. egg prices in grocery stores more than doubled over the past year due to an outbreak of bird flu, combined with increasing labor and supply costs.

Some backyard chicken owners may have separately found their chickens underperforming, but experts say the issues are unrelated. While feed quality can affect hens egg-laying abilities, state agricultural officials told The Associated Press they have not heard of any widespread issues with feed affecting egg production, and several major feed suppliers say they havent changed their formulas.

Experts say there are far more mundane explanations for the poultrys meager production.

Is there a broad conspiracy? No, theres not a broad conspiracy, said Todd Applegate, a professor in poultry science at the University of Georgia. Beyond feed, there are a lot, probably even more so, things from the management and from the birds environment that creates different things that would cause her to either go out of production or lower her production.

More than 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered over the past year to control the bird flu virus have been egg-laying chickens, The Associated Press has reported.

Because of high path avian influenza, weve had to depopulate millions of laying hens. And when you take that many chickens out of production, theres fewer eggs, said Ken Anderson, a poultry industry specialist at North Carolina State University. And when theres fewer eggs, the price goes up.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and a farmer-led advocacy group have called for an investigation into potential egg price-gouging by producers. But there is no evidence that altered chicken feed is driving steep egg prices.

Agricultural officials in multiple states, including North Carolina and Georgia, told the AP they have received no reports of widespread problems.

Our members have not really heard any exact reports of any correlation between the feed and egg production, said Austin Therrell, executive director of the Association of American Feed Control Officials, a group of local, state and federal agencies responsible for regulating animal feeds.

Therrell noted, however, that officials have fielded questions from people who saw feed-related claims on social media.

Other factors could explain the individual reports of low backyard egg yields, experts say. Limited daylight hours in the winter can reduce or stop hens egg production, as can cold weather, said Applegate. Improperly stored feed can become compromised and affect egg production, too.

Backyard flock producers dont necessarily follow lighting programs to support peak egg production, Anderson said. A lot of backyard flock people utilize natural daylight.

Many social media users claimed that specific feed products, such as those offered by Purina Animal Nutrition and Tractor Supply, a chain of farm supplies stores, were at fault. Some said their hens started laying again after they switched feeds or made their own. But the companies deny that their products are to blame.

We confirm there have not been formulation changes to Purina poultry feed products, Brooke Dillon, a spokesperson for Land OLakes, the parent company of Purina Animal Nutrition, wrote in an email. Similarly, Mary Winn Pilkington, a spokesperson for Tractor Supply, said that its suppliers confirmed there has been no change to the nutritional profile of their feed products.

Feed products have been recalled in the past for improper nutrition, according to Adam Fahrenholz, an associate professor of feed milling at North Carolina State University. But while feed nutrition issues, like insufficient protein, can reduce egg production, he found no merit in online claims of a massive conspiracy.

I dont find it plausible from the standpoint of an intentional, large scale, you know, planned event at all, Fahrenholz added.

The conspiracy that feed companies are deliberately trying to sabotage backyard egg supplies found an audience thanks to a broader distrust of government officials and experts, said Yotam Ophir, an assistant professor at the University at Buffalo who focuses on misinformation. Its common for people to look for scapegoats during periods of social anxiety, he said. The claims join other recent conspiracies alleging a coordinated effort to undermine the nations food supply.

The official narrative is kind of reminding us that we are sometimes vulnerable to the randomness of nature, Ophir said.

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When the pandemic threat eased, Maureen Holohan was eager to scale back her online shopping and return to physical stores so she could more easily compare prices and scour ingredients on beauty and health care products for herself and her three children.

But that experience was short-lived. In the past six months or so, CVS, Target and other retailers where Holohan shops have been locking up more everyday items like deodorant and laundry detergent as a way to reduce theft. And the 56-year-old Chevy Chase, Maryland resident is now back to shopping online or visiting stores where she doesnt have to wait for someone to retrieve products.

I know theyve got to do something, but locking the stuff up definitely just has me walking by that aisle, said Holohan, a business consultant.

Across the retail landscape, businesses have been putting items under lock and key as a quick way to stop thieves. Some are considering extreme measures, including Rite Aid Corp., whose chief retail officer Andre Persaud told analysts on an earnings call late last year that its looking at literally putting everything behind showcases to ensure the products are there for customers who want to buy it. Its also considering using off-duty police officers at some of its stores.

But by trying to solve one problem, these businesses may be creating another: turning off shoppers with overreaching measures.

Everything has changed. We used to be catered to, said Sheila Schlegel, 43, of Queens, New York.

But now, if youre coming to the store, theres one person at that store, and that person you can tell has been there for 15 hours, said Schlegel, who recalled an incident where she waited for a sales clerk to unlock an item only to be told he didnt have the key. You dont want to ask them for something if you dont have to.

For consumers of color especially, the stepped-up security measures risk alienating a population that already feels overpoliced. That could unravel some of the inroads that chains like CVS, Sephora and Walmart made in the aftermath of George Floyds murder in 2020, when they promised to avoid racially biased practices like locking up products only for Black customers.

Whenever theres a push toward greater criminalization, whenever theres a narrative of increased crime and things like that, it is always consumers of color that are going to be bearing the brunt, said Tiffany Gill, associate professor of history at Rutgers University, and an expert in African American Womens History, fashion and beauty culture.

CVS Health Corp. and Sephora declined to comment for the story. Walmart said that its position of not locking up beauty products for women of color remains the same. Target confirmed it was locking up more products but instead of targeting certain items, it locks up entire categories.

Its unclear how much money retailers are losing due to organized retail crime or if the problem has substantially increased. But the issue has received more notice in the past few years as high-profile smash-and-grab retail thefts and flash mob robberies have garnered national media attention.

The National Retail Federation, the nations largest retail trade group, said its latest security survey of roughly 60 retailers found that inventory loss called shrink clocked in at an average rate of 1.4% last year, representing $94.5 billion in losses.

The greatest portion of shrink 37% came from external theft, including products taken during organized shoplifting incidents, the trade group said. It also noted retailers, on average, saw a 26.5% uptick in organized theft incidents last year.

But while high theft in stores depletes inventory and limits sales, locking up items also reduces sales by 15% to 25%, according to Joe Budano, CEO of Indyme, a technology company that sells retailers security devices.

John Catsimatidis, who owns the New York supermarket chains Gristedes and DAgostinos, said the chain has locked up more products like aspirin and deodorant in the past year but not as many as his drug store chain rivals. His chains have also doubled the number of security guards at some of its stores

He acknowledged that the move has resulted in some lost sales from impulse shopping but the added security has made shoppers more comfortable and has helped reduce theft, although hes not sure by how much.

This is not an exact science, he said.

Store workers, meanwhile, face the pressure of trying to do their jobs while also monitoring theft. Isabela Burrows, 20, a manager at pet supplies chain PetSmart in Howell, Michigan, noted that her store in recent months has had to lock up more items like diffusers to calm dogs and cats and electric shaving shears. But while she feels more comfortable, shes also had to deal with shopper annoyance.

I feel overwhelmed, Burrows said. Theyre frustrated with me, and I have to find the item.

In what could be a sign of the overall challenges, drugstore chain Walgreens acknowledged that it might have overblown the shoplifting threat and gone too far in its security measures.

Maybe, we cried too much last year, James Kehoe, global chief financial officer at Walgreens told analysts during an earnings call last month. Probably we put in too much and we might step back a little bit from that.

But a Walgreens spokesman cautioned that while the company is pleased to see retail theft levels starting to stabilize, they are still a serious national problem affecting all retailers.

Some retailers are coming out with less intrusive solutions to store theft. Home improvement retailer Lowes has followed Home Depot in testing technology that unlocks power tools when shoppers buy them at the cash registers instead of resorting to keeping the items in cages.

Anat Shakedd, the CEO and co-founder of Nexite, a company that makes tiny Bluetooth tags that can go on items, says her company has partnered with a top department store in the U.S. and other brands across Europe and Israel to help them monitor their inventory without locking things up.

The Freedom Case, developed by Indyme, asks shoppers for a cell phone number to opt into its service. The shoppers then receive a text message with a four-digit code that lets them open the case. Customers can retain their self-service privileges as long as they show normal shopping behaviors. But if they exhibit suspicious behaviors, store workers will be notified to provide assistance, he said.

Holohan said she doesnt mind extra security guards, but shes not interested in giving out her phone number.

Its invasive, she said. If theyre going to make it that hard to buy something, Ill find somewhere else to buy that.

_____

AP Retail Writer Haleluya Hadero in New York contributed to this report.

An Iranian singer who faces possible prison time for his song thats become an anthem to the ongoing protests shaking the Islamic Republic wept early Monday after seeing hed won a Grammy.

Shervin Hajipour appeared stunned after hearing Jill Biden, the wife of President Joe Biden, announce hed won the Grammys new song for social change special merit award for Baraye. An online video showed Hajipour in a darkened room, wiping tears away after the announcement.

Hajipours song Baraye, or For in English, begins with: For dancing in the streets, for the fear we feel when we kiss. The lyrics list reasons young Iranians have posted on Twitter for why they had protested against Irans ruling theocracy.

It ends with the widely chanted slogan that has become synonymous with the protests since the September death of Iranian-Kurdish woman Masha Amini: For women, life, freedom.

Released on his Instagram page, the song quickly went viral. Hajipour then was arrested and held for several days before being released on bail in October. The 25-year-old singer faces charges of propaganda against the regime and instigating the violence, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group thats been monitoring the monthslong protests.

The charges Hajipour faces can carry as much as six years in prison all together. The singer is also banned from leaving Iran.

Wearing a shining, off-the-shoulder Oscar de la Renta dress at the Grammy ceremony in Los Angeles, Biden said that a song can unite, inspire and ultimately change the world.

This song became the anthem of the Mahsa Amini protests, a powerful and poetic call for freedom and womens rights, Biden said. Shervin was arrested, but this song continues to resonate around the world with its powerful theme: Women, life, freedom.

Those gathered cheered Bidens remarks. On Instagram, Hajipour simply wrote: We won.

There was no immediate reaction in Iranian state media or from government officials to Hajipours win. The singer is among over 19,600 people arrested amid the demonstrations, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran. At least 527 people have been killed amid a violent suppression of the demonstration by authorities.

On Sunday, Irans supreme leader on Sunday reportedly ordered an amnesty or reduction in prison sentences for tens of thousands of people detained amid the protests, acknowledging for the first time the scale of the crackdown.

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In a press release on Sunday, the caretakers of the bankrupt FTX estate announced that they were sending confidential messages to politicians, political action funds, and other recipients of contributions made by the exchange and its former leadership, including founder Sam Bankman-Fried, to request the the return of the money.  

Before its collapse, FTX was a prolific source of political donations, both from the company itself and its cadre of executives. In a document released in mid-January by the FTX estate, lawyers estimated that the company and its staff had spent $93 million on contributions, which are now under review.  

Part of the companys success came from its prodigious lobbying efforts in Washington, which took the form of both donations and frequent visits to the capital by Bankman-Fried. According to a report by CoinDesk, one in three members of Congress received donations from FTX executives, with Bankman-Fried himself contributing at least $40 million in the last two years.  

Though he gave most of that money to Democrats, Bankman-Fried claimed to have donated an equivalent amount to Republicans in the form of dark money contributions so that reporters could not trace the transactions back to him, and, as he put it on a podcast, freak the fuck out.  

In the wake of FTXs collapse, numerous politicians who received donations from FTX and its employees tried to distance themselves from the company, including giving the money to other charitable causes.  

As part of the bankruptcy process, however, there has been rampant speculation by experts that the estate would claw back the funds or require anyone who had received money from FTXwhether in the form of political donations or venture fundingto send the funds back to be distributed among the estates creditors.  

In response, some politicians went further than just donating their contributions from FTX, instead setting them aside in case of a possible clawback. Complicating the matter, it is unclear exactly who fell into the FTX orbit. Sam Bankman-Frieds brother Gabriel, for example, was also a prolific donator, as were other people associated with the disgraced founder.  

As a result, there have been accusations that Bankman-Fried used straw donors, or an illegal form of campaign contributions where someone funnels donations through other parties. When the U.S. Department of Justice charged Bankman-Fried in December, the eight-count indictment included alleged violations of federal campaign finance laws.

A long-anticipated action  

The language of Sundays press release from FTX was sparse and did not mention who it considered being part of the companys umbrella, instead instructing parties to receive funds donated by officers or principals of the FTX [contributors]. 

The letter provided an email address that potential recipients could contact to begin the process of returning the funds, and it added that it would reserve the right to commence court procedures to require the return of the payments if recipients did not comply.  

Politicians are still unraveling the scandal, especially as Washington commences the congressional session with crypto regulation at the top of the agenda. With Bankman-Fried previously serving as one of the main advocates for a promising bill out of the Senate Agriculture Committee, the crypto industry now appears to lack a champion of equal influence following his arrest.

With FTXs actions shrouded by a web of shell companies and dark money contributions, the long-awaited action by the debtor association will begin to shed light on the extent of the companys activity in Washington. Two further hearings in the bankruptcy proceedings are scheduled for later this week, including the possible appointment of an independent examiner.  

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Elon Musk prides himself for burning the candle at both ends, sleeping at the office should the need arise, but now it appears is if may be taking too heavy a toll.

The serial entrepreneur confessed that his 51-year old body is starting to show signs of wear and tear from the superhuman regimen of running not one, or even two but three major companies simultaneously. 

It started off after the CEO apologized during a trial two weeks ago for squirming around on the witness stand, ascribing it to quite severe back pain and difficulty sleeping the night before. 

Then on Sunday, Musk, who a jury just found not liable for damages over his funding secured tweet, conceded that the last three months had been extremely challenging. 

Not only did he need to work extra hard to save Twitter from bankruptcy, he also was required to perform essential duties at Tesla and SpaceX. In November, during an investor conference with Tesla bull Ron Baron, Musk described his punishing schedule of waking up, working non-stop and then sleeping seven days a week.

This meant his usual 70-80 hour work weeks had to be ramped up to probably 120. By that estimation, Musk would need to compress all the time needed for sleeping, eating, relaxing and other tasks like hygiene into a combined seven hours a daya superhuman regimen that could prove damaging for ones health.

Wouldnt wish that pain on anyone, he confided to Twitter users on Feb. 5. When one urged him to take care, Musk responded with Im worried about me too and a frowning face emoji.

The serial entrepreneur with a reputation for micro-managing people stopped short, however, of mentioning Twitters financial troubles were partly of his own creation as he saddled it with $13 billion in debt from his purchase. 

Twitter may finally be on the mend

His open acknowledgement that stress was leaving its mark on him could reignite concerns by Tesla shareholders that his $44 billion October acquisition of troubled social media company Twitter was too great a distraction given he already served as CEO and chief technology officer at SpaceX. 

Musk also serves as the unofficial brand ambassador for all three in lieu of a communications department, responding to customer requests via Twitter personally in a manner almost entirely unique among major corporate bosses. 

For months, many Tesla investors have been worried the EV manufacturer is receiving the least amount of attention and often shared the popular meme depicting a mother (meant to be Musk) neglecting her drowning children, SpaceX and Tesla. 

Concerns over his physical shape had already come to the fore over the summer after paparazzi pictures revealed a pasty complexion and an overweight figure. Musk later characterized the photos taken in July during his vacation on the Greek island of Mykonos as helpful motivation to lose weight.

In mid-December, when Tesla stock was in a freefall, Musk polled Twitter users as to whether he should yield day-to-day operations at the social media company and appoint someone else as CEO.

After the answer was a resounding yes, Musk seemingly backtracked on his promise to abide by the surveys results. Instead he pledged to resign as soon a I find someone foolish enough to take the job. Even then, he could not resist remaining engaged, saying he would demote himself to head of software and servers. 

The good news for Musks investors is that the day he steps back might not be too far off as Twitter is allegedly on the mend, according to Musk. 

Despite plunging revenue, crushing debt and user anger over declining engagement, the worlds second wealthiest individual said the company was on track to break even this year. Musk did not explain how he managed that feat and whether it included more draconian measures such as charging corporations a hefty $10,000 to retain their verified status. He did however gut its cost base through repeated waves of layoffs and staff attrition.

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