Chime Cuts 150 Jobs, 10% of Staff, Citing AI Efficiencies

Chime's Friday cut of about 150 jobs, 10% of staff, names AI efficiencies and smaller teams five days before Q2 earnings; ServiceNow's first hard California number is 287 jobs across Santa Clara and San Diego, with a spokesperson noting roughly 700 more could follow before year-end; Magic Leap's total rises to 269, and Visa's first WARN covers 70 Bellevue jobs including two VPs.

July 2026 (final): roughly 17,401 precisely counted layoffs across 34 companies, up from about 16,888 across 32 through July 31, as Chime (150), Magic Leap's California filing (76), and ServiceNow's California total (287) enter the count. August 2026: no new layoff announcements yet; today's items are new details on July cuts.

Chime cuts about 150 jobs, 10% of staff, naming AI as the reason

The San Francisco neobank Chime is cutting about 150 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce, citing AI efficiencies and a shift to smaller teams. CEO and co-founder Chris Britt broke the news in a Friday memo first reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by Reuters and Banking Dive.

"AI is changing what's possible but requires new skills," Britt wrote. "Smaller teams with fewer layers are moving faster than ever and getting more done." He described "a flatter structure and smaller squads" in some areas and "new capabilities" in others, and called the cut a matter of public-company discipline: "As a public company, we must accelerate growth while continuing to demonstrate operating discipline to build an even stronger, more profitable business" (Banking Dive, July 31).

Chime had about 1,500 employees as of December 31 and went public in June 2025 at $27 a share. The cut comes five days before its Q2 earnings report on August 5, the first full financial picture since an April 1 cyberattack by an Iran-linked group called Team 313 left an estimated 20,000 app-only banking customers locked out of their accounts. Three federal class action lawsuits over the breach are pending in the Northern District of California; Chime says no customer data was breached (Tech Times, July 31).

The AI framing tracks closely with Visa's cut earlier in the week: both companies cited smaller teams, fewer layers, and AI as a catalyst. On Chime's Q1 earnings call in May, management disclosed that AI-assisted coding had risen from approximately 29% to 84% of code shipped internally over four months, which they said improved product velocity while allowing headcount growth to remain relatively flat (PYMNTS, July 31). Chime posted its first-ever quarter of GAAP profitability in Q1 2026, $53 million in net income on $647 million in revenue (Tech Times).

The stated reason leans into AI. The plausible real mechanism is a mix of cost discipline after a public listing, over-hiring rollback, and an AI banner that flatters a cut that follows the same pattern as Chime's 12% reduction in 2022. Eric Grover, principal at Intrepid Ventures, put it bluntly to American Banker: "While it's increasingly common for tech companies to cite AI efficiency, that narrative often serves as a cover for addressing bloated overhead and over-hiring from past high-growth phases." The company did not say AI is performing specific jobs, and the memo leaves room for some freed payroll to flow toward AI-related functions.

"AI is changing what's possible but requires new skills." Chime CEO Chris Britt, in a Friday memo to employees.

Severance details were not disclosed. Chime's shares were little changed on the news Friday and are down about 10% year to date. The Q2 call on August 5, with its post-breach active member count, will be the first test of whether the cut lands as discipline or distraction. In confirmed July tally +150.

ServiceNow's first hard California number: 287 jobs, with roughly 700 more possible

ServiceNow's California WARN filings have produced the first concrete number for a cut that was previously reported only as "several hundred." The company filed 154 layoffs at its Santa Clara headquarters and 133 at its San Diego office, for a California total of 287, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. The San Diego portion was reported July 28 and covered in our July 29 issue; the 154 Santa Clara jobs were first reported by the San Francisco Business Times on July 30.

A ServiceNow spokesperson told the LA Times the company began 2026 with roughly 29,000 employees and currently has 30,000. CEO Bill McDermott has repeatedly said ServiceNow would end 2026 with the same headcount it started with. That math leaves room for roughly 700 more layoffs before December 31, a number the spokesperson did not dispute.

The cuts take effect September 28. The Santa Clara filing covers the headquarters campus; the San Diego filing, at 4801 Eastgate Mall, affects more than half senior and director-level positions, with customer success, support, and product success teams hit hardest, as previously reported.

This is the "AI vendor ate its own" storyline gaining precision. ServiceNow sells AI agents, Otto and the Autonomous Workforce platform, that automate the IT, customer, and security workflows now being cut. The company cut from a position of strength, six days after a Q2 blowout (subscription revenue $3.88 billion, up 24.5%; AI ACV above $1 billion) that pushed the stock up 5% after hours. McDermott's 2023 "no job cuts" pledge and his "end 2026 where we started" promise both bend further with every filing.

The 287 is the California-confirmed portion of a global total that remains undisclosed. In confirmed July tally +287 (first time entering the precise count, previously range-excluded).

Briefs and tracking

Magic Leap total rises to 269 as California filing adds 76. A California WARN dated July 17 discloses 76 permanent layoffs at Magic Leap's Sunnyvale operation, effective October 1, on top of the 193 Plantation, Florida cuts covered July 20. The combined US total is 269, affecting hardware, software, product, manufacturing, and design functions as the AR pioneer abandons first-party devices to become a waveguide supplier for AI glasses (The XR Beat, July 27; California WARN database). In confirmed July tally +76 (the California portion; the 193 Florida jobs were already counted).

Visa's first WARN: 70 Bellevue jobs, including two VPs. A Washington State WARN filing lists 70 permanent cuts at Visa's downtown Bellevue office at 929 108th Ave NE, effective October 1. The eliminated positions include directors, lead engineers, senior employees, and two vice presidents, first reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal and detailed by Downtown Bellevue Network on August 1. The Bellevue cuts are part of the 2,600 already counted; no change to the tally. CEO Ryan McInerney told investors Visa is reforming teams "that used to be 10 or more into smaller and more nimble agentic squads of two to four" and said the restructuring will add $563 million in severance costs (American Banker). Visa shares closed at $366.13 Friday, an all-time high. Affected employees are expected to hear from the company Tuesday, August 4, about next steps (CNBC).

Amazon AGI Lab closure and Nova wind-down (tracking). Amazon's decision to quit the frontier-model race, first reported July 22 when Reuters broke the AGI job cuts, deepened over the following week. The Information reported July 23 that the company shut down its San Francisco AGI Lab, a research unit built in December 2024 around talent from the startup Adept. GeekWire confirmed the site closure July 24. Business Insider reported July 28 that Amazon is winding down most of its in-house Nova models, including Nova Premier, Nova Omni, the Reel video generator, and the Canvas image generator, placing them in "keep the lights on" status for existing customers while consolidating engineering under Pieter Abbeel's Frontier Model Research team. The AGI Lab peaked at about 80 people; its leader, Adept co-founder David Luan, left Amazon in February. Amazon raised its 2026 capital spending plan from $200 billion to $220 billion after strong Q2 results (Startup Fortune, citing AP, July 31). Not a new layoff; a tracking update on the covered AGI cuts, which remain undisclosed in number.

Upcoming dates. Intel's 103 Santa Clara Data Center Group cuts become effective Friday, August 15, the first concrete number in a global total still undisclosed (SF Chronicle, covered July 31). Chime reports Q2 earnings after the close Tuesday, August 5. Visa begins notifying affected employees Tuesday, August 4. Xbox WARN separations for 4,665 workers across California and Washington become effective September 4 (id 136 TX, ZeniMax Online 213 MD, Obsidian 52 CA, 605 WA). Meta's preliminary injunction hearing in the AI-layoff lawsuit is scheduled for August 24, when the AI-selection question returns with evidence.

Macro baseline. Global tech companies cut more than 124,000 jobs in the first seven months of 2026, already surpassing the roughly 122,000 recorded for all of 2025, according to Layoffs.fyi data cited August 1. Challenger's US baseline holds at 139,156 tech cuts through June, up 83% year over year, with AI cited in 101,743. Companies that blamed AI for layoffs saw weaker stock performance than firms citing other reasons (FT via Moneycontrol, July 26).