The layoffs at internet giant Amazon are bigger than originally planned: CEO Andy Jassy (54) announced Wednesday evening (local time) that it will be laying “a little over 18,000” on the company’s website. Europe is also affected. In November, Amazon announced it would lay off about 10,000 of its employees.
The layoffs are the largest in company history. Amazon had significantly increased the number of employees after the corona epidemic, where online commerce increased rapidly. In the first quarter of 2022, 1.62 million people worked in the company. Since then, headcount has dropped again, to 1.54 million employees worldwide at the end of September. Seasonal workers working at Amazon during the holiday season are not included.
In the third quarter of 2022, net income fell 9 percent compared to the same period last year. For the fourth quarter, Amazon expects weak annual growth of 2 to 8 percent by its standards and operating profit of between $0 and $4 billion, compared to 3.5 billion in the same period last year. The group plans to present its annual balance sheet on February 1.
layoffs in the United States
Online trading platforms in the US are suffering from cutbacks by advertisers in response to inflation and rising interest rates.
Recently, a number of tech companies have announced or implemented extensive layoffs. Facebook parent company Meta announced in November that it will lay off 11,000 people, roughly 13 percent of its workforce. At the end of August, Snapchat laid off about 20 percent of its employees, or more than 1,200 employees. New Twitter boss Elon Musk laid off about half of his 7,500 employees in October. (AFP)