Amazon experienced the largest-scale layoffs, with a reduction of 99,000 employees!

The latest news is that from the first quarter to the second quarter of this year, Amazon's direct employee headcount decreased by 99,000, a record decline. The main reason is the large-scale layoffs in Amazon warehouses and distribution centers.

Amazon's Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said after the release of Amazon 's second-quarter financial report that the main reason for the sharp reduction in employees was that Amazon implemented layoffs in its warehouses and distribution networks .

Brian Olsavsky claimed that Amazon plans to be more cautious in hiring at its headquarters and other departments . In the current market environment, other large technology companies are also slowing down their hiring. Amazon will continue to increase its headcount in a "very targeted" manner, including engineering positions in the fields of Amazon Web Services and advertising, while paying " high attention " to the profitability of these departments .

Even though Amazon's direct employee headcount has continued to decline , the current total number of employees still represents a 14% increase from 1.36 million in the second quarter of 2021 .

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in May that Amazon had hired hundreds of thousands of new workers to meet the increased demand during the pandemic and improve the quality of delivery services, but now Amazon is determined to control costs and focus more on profits.

It is understood that Amazon has recently suspended plans to build a new office building in Bellevue, a suburb east of Seattle, and has begun renting out warehouse space in New York, New Jersey and California.

In order to pass on the rising cost pressure, Amazon announced last week that it would increase Prime membership fees in several European countries by as much as 43%. Previously, Amazon increased the cost of Prime membership in the United States in February this year and added a 5% fuel and inflation surcharge for sellers.

According to Amazon 's recently released second-quarter financial report, after suffering its first quarterly loss in seven years in the first quarter, Amazon still failed to make a profit in the second quarter. Amazon's net loss in the second quarter was US$2.028 billion, and its operating loss in the North American market was US$627 million .

The main reason for the loss was that Amazon 's investment in electric vehicle company Rivian Automotive Inc failed to meet expectations and suffered a loss of $3.9 billion in the second quarter.

However, Amazon's second-quarter net sales were $121.23 billion, up 7.2 % year-on-year, higher than market expectations of $119.1 billion.

Amazon remained optimistic about sales in the coming months , predicting third-quarter sales to be between $125 billion and $130 billion, a year-over-year increase of 13% to 17%.

Amazon also said that the business growth of third-party sellers remains very strong and is a very important part of its business .

Therefore, in the current market environment, if cross-border sellers adjust their operating strategies in a timely manner, there is still room for growth.

Amazon Platform

Layoffs