According to reports, Amazon will start firing 10,000 workers this week. The planned layoffs will be the largest in business’ history, according to The New York Times, citing people with knowledge of the situation. Although the number of employees at Amazon (as well as its valuation) has grown dramatically over the past 20 years, the company laid off around 1,500 workers in 2001 amid the dot-com bubble. At the moment, Amazon employs more than 1.5 million people worldwide, including hourly workers. Due to recent socioeconomic problems and declining profitability, American tech titans like Meta (previously Facebook) and Twitter have also let off hundreds of employees.
According to the article, Amazon’s layoffs will have an impact on personnel in the retail division and human resources. The article also states that several people who work on Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa may lose their employment. According to a source, once each department completes its planning, the number of layoffs will likely be announced team by the team rather than all at once. If it remains at around 10,000, it will account for 3% of Amazon’s corporate staff and 1% of the entire workforce.
Amazon’s strict cost-cutting measure
Given the company’s tight cost-cutting initiatives, the announcement of the layoffs isn’t altogether unexpected. As an illustration, the business acknowledged in a blog post earlier this month that it would halt employment on the corporate side to balance “investments with being thoughtful about this economy”. The post by Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president, notes, “We anticipate keeping this pause in place for the next few months and will continue to monitor what we’re seeing in the economy and the business to adjust as we think makes sense”.
Notably, The Wall Street Journal revealed this week that Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, is carefully watching the Alexa division, which employs about 10,000 people. According to the report, the agency hasn’t been “profitable” and is making $5 billion in annual deficits. The Alexa voice assistant, utilized by consumers and Amazon’s human resources department, is apparently not getting any new features from the corporation.
Additionally, Amazon apparently intended to make cuts during the crucial holiday shopping period, a time when the corporation has always favored stability.
As already said, Amazon is not the only business feeling the effects of the macroeconomic conditions around the world. Over 3,500 staff were let go by Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, earlier this month. The largest layoff in the company’s history, Meta also terminated about 11,000 employees in November.
While job cuts are taking place, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told CNN in an interview that he intends to donate the majority of his $124 billion net worth to organizations that fight climate change and work to bring people together during a time of intense social and political division.