absolutely brutal news out of pwc middle east this morning. they’ve announced that 66 zero partners and about 1,500 staff are being let go immediately.
the knee-je-k reaction is that it’s because of the pif ban. people assume that restriction is the trigger. but i believe it’s more complicated. yes, pif matters for every major management consulting firm. but the real story is about the market changing.
the market is contracting. clients are realizing what ai can do. broadly speaking, clients now want to build their own in-house consulting capacity. the cost difference between hiring someone internally versus using an external consultant is massive. they know they need those skills on their own teams. so why keep hiring outside help?
there is a definite shift. on paper, the advisory market in the middle east should be growing. i did a video recently pointing out that the projection was roughly 13 % year-on-year growth. last year saudi spent about 4 billion on consultants. this year should be 4 billion plus 13 %. something never quite added up, and this feels like validation.
pwc grew rapidly from around 2015 to 2025. they won nearly every big transformation project tied to vision 2030. but nobody thought that kind of scale would be sustainable forever. you can’t run project management offices for a decade and expect everything to stay the same.
now pwc is being forced to pull back. the layoffs are brutal, and i deeply sympathize with everyone affected. but cutting that many people is not done lightly or cheaply. clearly they’ve run the numbers: weigh the cost of layoffs now against the upside of operating leaner during slower growth.
i’ve also heard a rumor that another big four firm is going to announce something similar very soon. i won’t name names, but expect this wave to spread. it’s not just the big four—more consulting firms will feel this squeeze.
crazy times. if you’re being affected or know people who are, reach out. maybe we can build a group to help each other through this. i’d love to hear your take.