Amazon CEO to cut more than 18,000 jobs

Amazon announced Wednesday that it will cut more than 18,000 jobs from its workforce, citing the “uncertain economy” and the fact that the online retail giant has “recruited quickly” during the pandemic.

Chief executive Andy Jassy said in a statement to his employees: “Between the cuts we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to only eliminate them. over 18,000 roles”. The company announced the layoff of 10,000 employees in November.

Jassy said the company’s management “is acutely aware that removing this role is difficult for everyone and we do not take these decisions lightly.

“We are working to support those affected and are offering packages that include parting payments, transitional health insurance benefits and outside job referral assistance,” he said.

Jassy said some layoffs will take place in Europe, adding that affected workers will be notified starting January 18.

He said the sudden announcement came “because one of our teammates leaked this information to the outside.”

“It’s been more difficult to evaluate this year due to the uncertain economy and we’ve been hiring rapidly over the past few years,” Jassy said.

But he added that “Amazon has weathered difficult and uncertain economies in the past, and we will continue to do so.”

The retailer has actually been hiring heavily during the pandemic to accommodate the boom in delivery demand, doubling its global headcount between early 2020 and early 2022.

The group had 1.54 million employees worldwide at the end of September, excluding seasonal workers employed during periods of increased activity, especially during the pandemic. holiday season.

downsizing technology

Amazon’s job cuts are the largest of recent workforce cuts that have hit the US tech sector.

It is also the largest in the history of the Seattle-based company.

Amazon saw its net profit drop 9% year-on-year in the third quarter. And for the past quarter, Amazon had predicted weak November growth by its standards, between two and eight percent a year, and operating profit between $0 and $4 billion, compared with 3.5 for the same period in 2021.

The team will announce its annual results on February 1.

In the technology sector, large platforms with ad-based business models are facing Cut budget from advertisers, who are reducing costs in the face of rising inflation and interest rates.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, posted a loss of 11,000 in November job, or about 13 percent of its workforce. At the end of August, Snapchat laid off about 20% of its employees, about 1,200 people.

Twitter was acquired in October by billionaire Elon Musk, who quickly laid off about half of the social media platform’s 7,500 employees.

Additionally, the Salesforce IT team, which specializes in cloud technology and management solutions, announced on Wednesday that it has laid off about 10% of its staff, or nearly 8,000 people.

© 2023 AFP