One of the five richest men in the world, billionaire Jeff Bezos, he would revert to the senior managing director position at Amazon which he left in mid-2021.
Having founded the company in 1994, Jeff Bezos was determined to devote more time to space travel, philanthropy and a life of indulgent travel with his new partner, Lauren Sanchez. But Amazon’s economic present could anticipate his plans.
As revealed by the Wall Street Journal, the return of the billionaire would materialize between the decline in his income and a wave of layoffs that will settle in the coming months.
Amazon breaks layoff records
The current leader of the company, current CEO Andy Jassy, referred to aa “uncertain economy” and confirmed they will lay off more than 18,000 employees in early 2023.
The company, which employs about 1.54 million people globally not counting temporary workers hired during busier periods such as the holidays, anticipated in November that the cuts would affect 10,000 people.
The headcount reduction will focus on corporate positions in its business areas and human resources functions in both the United States and Europe.
“Amazon has weathered a difficult and uncertain economy in the past and we will continue to do so. These changes will help us achieve our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure,” Jassy said, according to the internal statement released. from the news agencies Bloomberg, DPA and AFP.
As Amazon planned to make a formal announcement, an employee leaked the news early to the Wall Street Journal.
Rumors of layoffs had been circulating in the company for months. Amazon has previously had a hiring freeze, but the increase in announced layoffs suggests the outlook has worsened.
Like other tech companies, Amazon has publicly acknowledged that it hired too many employees during the pandemic, as e-commerce boomed. anger of the question due to restrictions on face-to-face purchases.
In fact, between early 2020 and early 2022, Amazon doubled in size. Since then, the growth of online sales has begun to slow down as consumers return to their previous habits.
Cutting 18,000 positions it is the largest in history since the Seattle-based company was created in 1994, and the biggest among tech company announcements in recent months.
The company, in addition to its merchandise business, has businesses in cloud hosting (Amazon Web Services), electronic devices such as the Kindle e-book or Alexa digital assistant, and in the entertainment sector (MGM and Prime Video). .
Salesforce, the company that owns the Slack platform, also anticipated that it will reduce its plant (over 7,000 employees) by 10%, while Meta – the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – confirmed last November that it will lay off 11,000 workers, in November 13% of your staff.
Similarly, tycoon Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, has laid off nearly 3,700 employees (50% of positions) and Snapchat did the same with 1,200 (30%).
Source: Clarin
Linda Price is a tech expert at News Rebeat. With a deep understanding of the latest developments in the world of technology and a passion for innovation, Linda provides insightful and informative coverage of the cutting-edge advancements shaping our world.