Amazon Prepares For Massive Layoffs as Sales Slow Down

US Media reports that the layoffs could affect roughly 3% of Amazon employees, which is about 10,000 people

After pushing Amazon into a hiring freeze, slowing sales are now forcing the e-commerce giant to perform a massive layoff. US Media reports that Amazon will lay off roughly 3% of the staff, which comes to around 10,000 people.

The company has refused to give up any information on the layoffs, but industry experts believe that these employee cuts will affect Amazon’s operation in areas such as personal devices and e-commerce.

Way before introducing plans for the layoffs, Amazon sensed the decline in sales and started making preparations accordingly. The company introduced a hiring freeze and stopped warehouse expansions. Just like Meta, Amazon also accepted that it over-hired in the pandemic and has to make adjustments now.

A number of Amazon’s projects such as the production of a personal delivery robot was also put to a stop thus making its core business the main focus during the down times.

“As part of this year’s review, we’re of course taking into account the current macro-environment and considering opportunities to optimize costs,” said Amazon while announcing its expense-reducing plans last week.

Amazon, like many other tech industry giants, made the mistake of over-hiring when demands increased during the pandemic. The pandemic demands made tech companies think that the numbers would stay the same even after the pandemic is over thus pushing the industry towards massive layoffs.

Founder Jeff Bezos, who currently is a chairman on the Amazon board said that “batten down the hatches”.

With this decision in place, Amazon has now put itself into the long list of tech companies that are performing layoffs in 2022. The number one company on this list is still Meta, which just recently fired over 11,000 employees in just one day, making it the biggest layoff in Meta’s 14 year history.

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