Andy Jassy, chief executive officer of Amazon.Com Inc., during the GeekWire Summit in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021.
David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Amazon will lay off approximately 10,000 employees in corporate and technology roles beginning this week, according to a report from The New York Times.
The cuts would be the largest in the company’s history, and would primarily impact Amazon’s devices organization, retail division and human resources, according to the report. The reported layoffs would represent less than 1% of Amazon’s global workforce and 3% of its corporate employees.
The New York Times said the total number “remains fluid” and could change.
A representative from Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Amazon reported 798,000 employees at the end of 2019 but had 1.6 million full and part time employees as of Dec. 31 2021, a 102% increase.
The holiday shopping season is critical for Amazon, and usually one where the company has increased headcount to meet demand. But as the company confronts slowing sales and a gloomy global economy, Andy Jassy, who took over as CEO in July 2021, has been in cost-cutting mode to preserve cash.
The stock is down 40% for the year, more than the 14% drop in the S&P 500 and is on pace for its worst year since 2008.
The company had already announced plans to freeze hiring for corporate roles in its retail business, and in recent months, Amazon has shut down its telehealth service, discontinued a quirky, video-calling projector for kids, closed all but one of its U.S. call centers, axed its roving delivery robot, shuttered underperforming brick-and-mortar chains, and is closing, canceling or delaying some new warehouse locations.
Amazon could be the latest tech company to announce sweeping headcount reductions. Meta announced last week that it is laying off more than 13% of its staff, or more than 11,000 employees, and Twitter laid off approximately half of its work force in the days following Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the company.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
Source link: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/14/amazon-reportedly-plans-to-lay-off-about-10000-employees-starting-this-week.html