Amazon has been struggling lately, and CEO Jeff Bezos has admitted they need to make some changes. Now, they finally announced that it will be slashing 1,700 more jobs than originally expected. This is a big blow to the company’s plans for growth in the coming years.
It’s not just Amazon that is suffering from this news; many other companies are also facing layoffs as their stock prices continue to slide. Amazon announced that it will lay off 70% more employees than earlier planned, in a move that will affect over 40,000 people globally. The company is also considering moving some of the positions to smaller cities.
The decision was made in order to reduce costs and improve employee satisfaction. It is expected that this decision will likely lead to job losses in Seattle, New York, and other major cities. Amazon said in a statement: “This decision was difficult but necessary to ensure we can continue inventing for customers and getting them into our warehouses, which are critical to all our businesses.”
Amazon’s share price has fallen by about 12% since the announcement was made on Wednesday morning. Amazon employees are expected to be laid off by 70% more than previously planned, according to a recent report from CNBC. The company has over 100,000 employees, and the layoff is expected to affect 30% of them.
Amazon has been struggling with its stock price for some time now, and it has been cutting costs in order to try to improve its profitability. While the company does not have an official reason for the layoffs, CNBC sources say that it is due to the fact that Amazon does not expect any growth in its business until 2020 or 2021.
The layoffs will affect both full-time and part-time workers alike. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the report when reached by Bloomberg News.
The company has had a rough year, and its CEO Jeff Bezos has blamed it on the US government. The decision to cut so many jobs was made in order to comply with an investigation into the company’s treatment of workers.
In an email sent out earlier this month, Amazon said that it would be reducing its workforce by 30% over the next two years. That means that Amazon will have some 75% fewer employees by 2021 than it did in 2018. And while the company says that it expects most of those layoffs to be voluntary, some analysts believe that the company may have trouble finding enough qualified candidates for certain jobs.
The move comes as Amazon continues to struggle with its sales growth and profit margins. The company saw profits fall 35% in the last quarter of 2018, and some analysts predict that they could decrease by as much as half in 2019. Amazon has been trying to shift its focus away from e-commerce and towards streaming video and other services. But some employees worry that these changes may impact their jobs negatively or lead to layoffs.
The company has been in the midst of a major reorganization that has included closing down several warehouses and shifting to more local fulfillment centers. The latest move will reportedly affect more than 10,000 workers.
Amazon’s headcount is down from 235,000 to 65,000 since last year and is expected to be much lower. The layoffs are part of what Amazon calls its “right-sizing” initiative, which began in October 2019 and is expected to continue through 2023. The program is designed to help the company better organize its business amid stiff competition from other e-commerce companies like Walmart.com and Target.com Inc. (TGT).
