Good morning, CFOs. Companies backtrack on massive hiring since the pandemic, with the latest cuts coming from Meta, KPMG and Nike; Intel sales rise as AI agents drive growth; plus, Bob Iger will return to venture capital.

The great hiring reversal continues to reverberate across corporate America. Among the Big Four accounting firms, KPMG is the latest to push some of its most senior people out of its workforce.

KPMG is cutting some 10% of its U.S. audit partners, or roughly 100 partners who will be exiting the firm (including some of whom volunteered to retire early), the WSJ Leadership Institute’s Mark Maurer writes for today's Morning Ledger.

Background and context: Accounting firms have experienced slower-than-expected levels of voluntary attrition for years, which has contributed to layoffs. U.S. partners have been included in cuts at firms such as EY and KPMG in recent years.

KPMG’s statement: “This action is connected to a multiyear strategy to align the size, shape and skills of our team to the power of our audit platform to best serve our clients and protect the capital markets.”

At Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms, the company will lay off 10% of staff, or about 8,000 people, to run more efficiently and offset its large AI investments, according to a memo sent to current employees that was viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Key quote: “This is not an easy tradeoff and it will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here,” Chief People Officer Janelle Gale wrote.

The company said it would also cancel plans to hire for 6,000 open roles, the memo said. Affected employees will be notified on May 20.

Want more signs of retrenchment? Nike also announced a round of cuts, and Microsoft is offering long-tenured employees voluntary buyouts, a first for the software giant as it also accelerates its AI efforts. Check those headlines here:

• Nike to Cut 1,400 Workers in Latest Round of Layoffs
• Microsoft Offers Buyouts to 7% of Workforce

Meanwhile, companies continue to tout how technology and GenAI are catalysts for driving growth. Read on below.

📆 Earnings

• Charter Communications
• HCA Healthcare
• Norfolk Southern
• Procter & Gamble
• SLB

The rise of artificial-intelligence agents and a host of new partnerships are helping breathe new life into chip maker Intel, which just a year ago had been left for dead, Robbie Whelan writes.

On Thursday, Intel reported sales of $13.6 billion for the March quarter, up 7% from the year-earlier period and beating estimates from analysts polled by FactSet by 11%. Shares traded as much as 20% higher on the news after markets closed.

CFO viewpoint: David Zinsner, Intel’s chief financial officer, told Whelan in an interview that he expects demand for PC chips—long the company’s bread-and-butter product—to be restrained for the rest of the year because widespread shortages of memory chips have driven up prices for laptops and other devices.

But the company expects those slow sales to be offset by rising demand for data center chips to run AI agents.

📈 Earnings wrapup

• American Express Profit Rises on Premium Customer Strength
• Lockheed Martin Ramps Up Munitions Production Amid War, Spending Skyrockets
• Honeywell Restructuring Nears Finish as Iran War Clouds Outlook
• Keurig Dr Pepper First-Quarter Sales Rise on Growth in Cold Beverages

For more earnings news, click here.

• Exclusive: Bob Iger Returning to Joshua Kushner’s Thrive in Post-Disney Move
• Oracle’s Deluge of AI Debt Pushes Wall Street to the Limit
• The Arbitrage Trade That’s Making Private-Credit Withdrawals Worse
• America’s Largest Landowner Is Using AI to Digitize the Forest
• Missing Safety Technology Might Have Prevented LaGuardia Jet Crash, NTSB Says
• SpaceX’s IPO Will Help Elon Musk Consolidate Power. Investors Welcome It.
• Musk’s Chip-Making Vision With Intel Is a Distant Prospect
• 🎧 Podcast: Tim Cook Built the Apple Empire. What's Next for His Successor?

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Expedia, the Seattle-based online travel agency, named Derek Andersen, the former finance chief of the social media platform Snap, as CFO, succeeding Scott Schenkel. Andersen, 48, has served as Snap's CFO since May 2019 and will join Expedia on May 11. Before Snap, he held various financial leadership roles at Amazon. Schenkel, who is departing after 16 months in the role, will leave on May 16. Expedia plans to pay Andersen an annual base salary of $1 million, plus a $2.5 million signing bonus. He will also receive $17 million in restricted stock units and will be eligible for $10 million in annual equity awards.

—Katherine Hamilton contributed to today’s Ledger.

The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax, accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

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