(CNN) – The New York Times reported on Monday, citing sources, that Amazon plans to lay off about 10,000 employees.
The newspaper added that the layoffs could start as early as this week, and are likely to include employees working in departments such as voice assistant (Alexa), as well as retail and human resources, and stressed that “the total number of laid-off employees remains variable.”
Amazon did not respond to CNN Business’s request for comment, and CNN was unable to independently confirm the New York Times report.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Amazon is preparing to lay off thousands of workers, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.
With this news, “Amazon” will be the latest in a string of tech companies announcing significant layoffs in recent weeks amid broader economic uncertainty and a sharp slowdown in demand that many tech giants have witnessed amid the pandemic. prompted them to add employees quickly.
Last week, Facebook’s parent company Meta announced it would lay off 11,000 employees.
Similarly, the ‘Twitter’ company has recently seen widespread layoffs, and ‘Twitter’s new owner’, billionaire Elon Musk, said that ‘there was no other option, sadly, but to reduce the number of employees in the company because it loses more than $4 million a day.”
Earlier this month, Amazon said it would freeze hiring “for the next few months” due to “economic uncertainty and the number of people it has been hiring” in recent years.
Amazon has seen its headcount grow rapidly as the pandemic shifts consumers to e-commerce.
However, in its latest earnings report, Amazon projected that its revenue for the holiday quarter would be lower than analysts expected.
Amazon shares are down more than 40% in 2022 so far, due to a broader market downturn.
The news of the potential layoffs comes at a critical time for the retail sector ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Despite recession fears and inflationary pressures, the US National Retail Federation expects sales to rise 6% to 8% from a year ago during the holiday shopping months.
And last month, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said, via Twitter on the possibility of a recession, that “the odds are telling you to brace yourself for hardship.”
Bezos, in an interview with CNN’s Chloe Melas on Saturday, advised business owners and consumers alike: “Take some risks, a little risk can make a difference.”
