Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is supposedly going to terminate up to 10,000 staff across its corporate and tech divisions, marking the biggest employee downsizing in the company’s history.
According to the New York Times, which cited people familiar with the matter, Amazon is expected to axe about 3% of its corporate workforce and around 1% of its global employee count, with layoffs primarily focused across the company’s human resources, retail, and devises division, including voice assistant Alexa. The move comes just ahead of holiday shopping season— a traditionally busy and stable time for the e-commerce giant. However, the rapidly-souring global economy and surging inflation is forcing those in the tech sector to re-evaluate sections of their business that are overstaffed and underperforming.
Over the past two years, Amazon embarked on a hiring spree to keep up with a sudden surge in consumer demand during the Covid-19 economic recovery thanks to generous government transfer payments. The company doubled its employee count, whilst allocating windfall funds towards innovating the next big thing. However, the economy began to lose momentum shortly after central banks began tightening policy, leaving Amazon in a dented position of shifting shopping habits and lower sales, leading to the company’s growth to slow to a 20-year low.
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Amazon froze hiring in September, and by October, the company stopped filling the 10,000 newly-created positions across its core retail business. Then, just two weeks ago, the e-commerce giant halted hiring for all corporate positions, including its cloud computing division.
Information for this briefing was found via the NYT. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
