Several companies with operations in Atlanta are laying off workers

“We are making the difficult decision to reduce our workforce,” he wrote. “The actions we are taking now will help us streamline our organization, with a greater focus on profitable growth.”

Without giving details, Wilkinson wrote that the goal was to prepare the company for the future.

“This was not an easy decision to make and it impacts the team members who have contributed to our business,” he wrote. “However, it will allow us to advance our long-term strategy to become a specialized platform software and services company.”

A company spokeswoman declined to elaborate on what that means in Atlanta.

Separately, Intuit announced it was cutting its workforce by about 10% as part of a reorganization aimed at taking advantage of recent advances in artificial intelligence.

Intuit, which sells tax preparation and financial management software, said it is laying off 1,800 employees as it pushes more aggressively to incorporate artificial intelligence into its products and services. The company said the move would result in hiring at least that many more employees in the next fiscal year.

In 2021, Intuit acquired Atlanta-based Mailchimp. While the company has since laid off some of those employees, it sees Mailchimp and its QuickBooks division as part of a larger plan, a spokeswoman said. “We continue to have a tremendous opportunity to bring together QuickBooks and Mailchimp to create a unique growth platform around the world and fuel the success of mid-market customers with our offerings. Mailchimp is critical to that strategy.”

In an email to employees, Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi said more than 1,000 of the layoffs were employees who were not meeting the company’s high expectations. About 300 other positions are being eliminated “to streamline work and reallocate resources to key growth areas,” he said in his email to staff, according to The Associated Press.

“The era of artificial intelligence is one of the most significant technological shifts of our time,” Goodarzi said. “Companies that are not prepared to take advantage of this AI revolution will be left behind and, over time, will no longer exist.”

Intuit, which also owns TurboTax, will also close two offices — one in Idaho, one in Edmonton, Canada, officials said.

A spokeswoman declined to provide employment figures in Atlanta, but said in a statement that the company wants to see its presence grow.

“This is a critical strategic location with high-level and diverse technical talent,” the statement said. “We invest in locations where teams of employees are responsible for critical technology capabilities and key parts of our product portfolio. We will actively seek to increase headcount at these locations.”

Tech layoffs aren’t always a sign of something more serious.

Early 2023 also saw high-profile job cuts at Atlanta tech companies, raising concerns about a broader slowdown, but Georgia’s economy as a whole continued to grow throughout the year.

This time, the job cuts come after more than a year of high interest rates, which are raising the cost of borrowing and investing for consumers and businesses alike. Those rates are the result of the Federal Reserve raising its key interest rate over the past two years and keeping it there.

The Fed’s policies were intended to slow growth and inflation, and they have achieved both goals to some extent. Interest rate hikes have failed to bring inflation down to the Fed’s desired level of 2 percent a year, and they have not tipped the economy into recession, at least not yet.

In testimony before Congress on Tuesday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the weakening labor market now poses as big a risk to the economy as high inflation.

The Atlanta metro area unemployment rate rose to 3.4% last month from 2.8% in May.

CNN will cut about 100 jobs and restructure its news divisions as part of its ongoing efforts to boost its digital offerings as cable news audiences stagnate, the changes were first reported by The Hollywood Reporter based on a memo sent to staff by CNN CEO Mark Thompson.

The company has about 3,500 employees, including fewer than 1,000 based in Atlanta.