Amazon to dismiss more than 17,000 people, the most in recent technology companies

The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon, which is suffering from a slump in the Alexa business, has laid off more than 17,000 employees.

Amazon Layoffs to Hit Over 17,000 Workers, the Most in Recent Tech Wave - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-to-lay-off-over-17-000-workers-more-than-first-planned-11672874304

It was reported that Amazon planned to lay off 10,000 employees in November 2022, the largest number ever. Some job cuts were already in place during 2022.

It is reported that Amazon will dismiss 10,000 employees, if realized, it will be the largest personnel reduction in Amazon's history - GIGAZINE

According to a person familiar with the Wall Street Journal, Amazon will lay off a total of 17,000 people over the next few months. As of September 2022, Amazon employs 1.5 million people, most of whom work in warehouses, but it is reported that the newly increased layoffs are concentrated in the corporate department. increase.

Amazon is one of the biggest beneficiaries of stay-at-home demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, when the United States declared a national emergency, Amazon's site continued to run out of household goods, and Amazon hired 100,000 new people to respond to special demand.

Amazon announces 100,000 new jobs due to ``new coronavirus special demand'', and voices of dissatisfaction from the site-GIGAZINE

However, Amazon is struggling as the turmoil caused by the pandemic has settled down and the global economy has cooled rapidly due to the effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and inflation. In the latest earnings report for the third quarter of 2022 , operating profit was halved from the same period of the previous year, and Amazon's predicament has become clear, such as the profit being halved for the second consecutive year, including the third quarter of 2021. became.

In response to the business slump, Amazon has postponed new recruitment and has been promoting cost reductions such as closing physical stores and 'Amazon Care', but has decided to significantly reduce employees to further improve its constitution. According to Layoffs.fyi , which collects layoff information by technology companies, the dismissal of 17,000 people is the largest number of reductions announced by a major technology company in the past year.

Amazon isn't the only tech company to lay off workers. In November 2022, we learned that Meta is laying off more than 11,000 people, or 13% of its workforce. In addition, it was announced on January 4, 2023 that Salesforce, which handles cloud business, will also dismiss about 8,000 people, which is 10% of its employees.