Up to 18,000 Amazon workers in firing line as it chops cost
- Reference: 1672920323
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/01/05/tech_workers_in_the_firing/
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The move followed CRM giant Salesforce's decision to slash about 10 percent of its 73,000 workforce while taking a financial hit of $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion, [1]announced yesterday .
The global online retailer and cloud company is set to slash around 5 percent of its workforce — largely in the areas of devices and books, technology services and stores — which is considerably higher than the [2]10,000 estimated in November .
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In a blog published last night, CEO Andy Jassy, who founded AWS, said the pace of recent hiring combined with current economic uncertainty forced it to make the cuts.
[4]
[5]
"Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we're sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles. Several teams are impacted; however, the majority of role eliminations are in our Amazon Stores and People Experience and Technology organizations," he said.
He said the company was working to support those who will lose their jobs. Packages include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.
[6]
Jassy added that Amazon would be "inventive, resourceful, and scrappy in this time when we're not hiring expansively and eliminating some roles." Venturing into a ponderous tone, the CEO pointed out that the leadership principle "Invent and Simplify" applied to "finding a way to do more for customers at a lower cost" as well as tech innovation.
Amazon has been hit by the return of in-store shopping after Covid-related restrictions were lifted across the globe. Online sales fell during the first half of 2022 but grew 7 percent in the third quarter compared to the prior year. The company has also been hit by increasing fuel prices, inflation and supply chain difficulties.
[7]The era of cloud colonialism has begun
[8]Prime suspect: Amazon to loosen logistics and delivery from EU retail
[9]Salesforce to chop 10% of workforce in $1.4 billion restructuring blueprint
[10]Micron plans staff decimation as demand dips to Great Recession levels
[11]Amazon unfreezes some hiring to expand its datacenter footprint
Amazon this week agreed an $8 billion unsecured loan from several unnamed lenders, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission [12]filing [PDF] on Tuesday. The brown box shifter later told Reuters "the uncertain macroeconomic environment" meant it was using "different financing options to support capital expenditures, debt repayments, acquisitions, and working capital needs."
In November last year, reports claimed Amazon's Worldwide Digital unit, where [13]Echo smart speakers and Alexa voice technology are nested , hit an operating loss of over $3 billion. It was claimed the vast majority of the losses were tied to Amazon's Alexa and other devices. Amazon responded that it was as committed as ever to Echo and Alexa would "continue to invest heavily in them." ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/04/salesforce_7000_job_cuts/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/14/amazon_job_cuts/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y7cCMJoZdBHvCy1utPtI2AAAAFg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y7cCMJoZdBHvCy1utPtI2AAAAFg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y7cCMJoZdBHvCy1utPtI2AAAAFg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y7cCMJoZdBHvCy1utPtI2AAAAFg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/28/cloud_colonialism_era/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/20/amazon_ec_commitments/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/04/salesforce_7000_job_cuts/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/22/micron_job_cuts/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/30/aws_hiring_datacenters/
[12] https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001018724/7476175c-3cd0-4870-b924-c246f756d9b4.pdf
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/23/voice_assistants_fail/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: "job for life" died at the end of the 1980s, Amazon is no different!
I don't really think you can compare Amazon to a 'normal' company when we're talking about percentages given Amazon have/had about 1.5m employees. We are still talking about 75,000 people.
Re: "job for life" died at the end of the 1980s, Amazon is no different!
Amazon Board - Let's not sack the incompetent senior VP who created this mess with inflated / over-optimistic sales projections (and who will go on to cost us hundreds of millions in the future) . Let's lay off the economically challenged people who actually did the work to made Amazon the great company it is today.
Yeah, that makes sense. Not!
"job for life" died at the end of the 1980s,
I left school aged 16 in 1982, already knowing there was no such thing as a job for life.
If I hear anyone younger complain it all changed later, I suspect them of hidden dimness.
(This is UK based, FTOAD)
How does smart speaker/voice tech manage to rack up losses of three billion ? I find that figure incomprehensible.
They haven't found the right buyer yet for the intercepts, or criminals and hedge fund managers (but I repeat myself) are smart enough not to buy them?
They sell the hardware at a loss, with the expectation of making money from the gathered data.
It turns out that people asking Alexa to play the latest Harry Styles isn't very useful to them.
"finding a way to do more for customers at a lower cost"
This means "We, a corporation still making billions a year, are going to dump other people's workload on the remaining employees. Suck it up or you'll be in the next round of layoffs for complaining or just working your contracted hours".
Hopefully most of it is in the search algorithm dept
Those people need to be stamped "keep away from computers" on their foreheads
Nice vernacular
"Eliminating" people and also, WTF is "People Experience"? I yearn for the halcyon days of Personnel departments and plain language.
SOP
They will wait until after the holidays to let the 'annual' axe swing commence. They'll be hiring again round Halloween. Nothing new here, except the excuses for letting the people go?
The "Many Worlds" conjecture of physics ain't got nothin' on this.
"...It was claimed the vast majority of the losses ["...an operating loss of over $3 billion..."] were tied to Amazon's Alexa and other devices. Amazon responded that it was as committed as ever to Echo and Alexa would "continue to invest heavily in them."
Amazon's appeal to, and use of, George Orwell's doublespeak is completely expected these days, from individuals to mega-corporations; but those who engage in it need to bring a modicum of intelligence to its use. In this particular instance, might this statement not have a profound negative influence on one's inclination to invest in the corporation?
Re: The "Many Worlds" conjecture of physics ain't got nothin' on this.
Upvoted for double-plus good post.
Come in Alexa, your time is up
For most of us things like Alexa in the home are nothing more than a 'meh' and 'used it once and it failed' or 'hell no, not having that thing spy on me'
But how it can rack up that much of a loss is beyond me.
The only positive thing I have to say about Amazon is that their AWS teams are pretty good when one of their users decided to try to hack my blog. If Baldy Bezos is going to cull them then that is IMHO a bad move. It will only result in me changing the /32 to /16 on my firewall block rules. I've already blocked all of US company Digital Ocean for doing nowt about hacking.
OMG -- They're firing Alexa
Amazon responded that it was as committed as ever to Echo and Alexa would "continue to invest heavily in them."
Let me translate that into English for you. Alexa better get her resume up to date 'cause she's got no future at Amazon.
OK with me. People talking to disembodied, imaginary, entities has always seemed a bit creepy to me.
When and where will the going away party be?
Alexa Schmalexa
We have one of those Alexa devices with a screen on it (it was a gift). It shows us the current time and upcoming weather, and that's about all it's used for.
Re: Alexa Schmalexa
That's all you use it for, what does it use you for?
"job for life" died at the end of the 1980s, Amazon is no different!
Why is this all over the news? It's just a 5% reduction, my sympathy if you're one of those affected but companies make headcount cuts all the time when economies take a downturn. Is Amazon going to continue to grow indefinitely? No. Does Bezos and co have to manage Amazon just like every other company on the planet? Yes.
Try working for companies when they state 25% headcount drop, then watch morale plumment for weeks or months at a time!