Amazon plans to eliminate more than 18,000 positions as part of a personnel reduction announced in November, the online giant announced on Wednesday.
The majority of the layoffs will occur in the company’s human resources department and retail operations. In a blog post published on Wednesday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated that affected employees will be notified by January 18.
Amazon Layoffs
Amazon did not disclose the number of employees that would be removed when Jassy stated in November that the business had initiated workforce cutbacks, but the widespread belief was that approximately 10,000 roles would be eliminated. In addition, Jassy stated at the time that cuts will continue through 2023.
Before the pandemic, Amazon was already the Goliath of US e-commerce. The company’s revenues soared for more than a year due to the surge in internet purchasing, which was initially spurred by lockdowns and subsequently by stimulus funds. It went on a hiring binge, increasing its workforce from slightly under 800,000 at the end of 2019 to over 1.6 million by the end of 2021.
Midway through 2022, Amazon’s expansion slowed, and the company announced its first loss in seven years at the start of 2022. In the eleven months before Jassy’s November announcement of the layoffs, Amazon’s stock had lost approximately half of its value.
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Tech Industry Affected By Global Crisis
In November, Jassy stated that the process of decreasing the staff was hampered by the difficult situation the economy is in and Amazon’s tremendous hiring in recent years. Even before the November round of layoffs and buyouts, the corporation began cutting back in a variety of areas.
Jassy has discontinued testing on Amazon Scout, the company’s robotic home-delivery effort, during the past few months. He has also discontinued Amazon Care, a telehealth and nursing service, and Fabric.com, a long-standing online fabric shop.
In September, Amazon froze hiring for small teams, followed by a company-wide halt early this month.
Amazon’s layoffs mirror the turmoil in the technology sector. In recent months, Twitter, Microsoft, Meta, and Google have also laid off thousands of employees.
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