Amazon (AMZN) is planning to lay off about 10,000 corporate workers, the New York Times reported Nov. 14. Affected workers will be concentrated in the retail and human resources divisions, as well as those who work on Amazon devices such as the voice assistant Alexa.
The cuts would represent about 3 percent of the retailer’s corporate workforce, and just 1 percent of its global staff, which totals 1.5 million employees.
Amazon is the latest tech company to lay off workers following a period of rapid growth. The company doubled its headcount between June 2020 and 2021, according to company filings, as the Covid pandemic pushed more people to shop online, causing profits to soar. But the retailer is facing slower growth this year as the pandemic recovery, coupled with high inflation, are changing the way people shop. Amazon’s revenue grew 7 percent during the quarter ending this March, its lowest level in two decades.
The retailer announced it would freeze corporate hiring in its retail division last month.
