The Guardian: Major online companies announce redundancies one after the other

Amazon has announced it will cut more than 18,000 jobs from its workforce – the largest set of layoffs in the US company’s history – while business software maker Salesforce is to cut 8,000 workers in the latest purge of tech jobs.

Amazon cited “the uncertain economy” and said the e-commerce giant had “hired rapidly over the last several years” in making the announcement on Wednesday.

Its chief executive, Andy Jassy, said in a note to employees: “Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles.”

He said Amazon had weathered “difficult economies” in the past and would continue to do so. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”

Jassy said the layoffs would mostly impact the company’s brick-and-mortar stores, which include Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, and its PXT organizations, which handle human resources and other functions.

Salesforce, meanwhile, said it was laying off about 8,000 employees, or 10% of its workforce.

The cuts announced on Wednesday are by far the largest in the 23-year history of the San Francisco company founded by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff. He pioneered the method of leasing software services to internet-connected devices – a concept now known as “cloud computing”.

The CEO of Meta Platforms, Mark Zuckerberg, also acknowledged he misread the revenue gains that the owner of Facebook and Instagram was reaping during the pandemic when he announced in November that his company would lay off 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce.

Source: The Guardian