Amazon is laying off more than 18,000 employees — the biggest corporate workforce reduction in its history — in the latest sign that a tech-industry slump is deepening.
Chief executive Andy Jassy announced the move in a memo to staff Wednesday, saying it followed the company’s annual planning process.
The cuts, which began last year, were previously expected to affect about 10,000 people.
The reduction is concentrated in the firm’s corporate ranks, mostly Amazon’s retail division and human resources functions like recruiting.
“Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” he said.
“These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”
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What happened overnight
Asian shares rose on hopes for China’s emergence from the pandemic, while the dollar found support after analysts spotted a warning against betting too heavily on rate cuts this year in minutes from the last Federal Reserve policy meeting.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1pc to touch a four-month high at one stage, before paring gains.
Japan’s Nikkei bounced off a three-month low. Tokyo’s blue-chip stocks advanced following Wall Street gains as markets shrugged off messaging from the Federal Reserve reiterating its commitment to lowering inflation.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.4pc to 25,820, while the broader Topix index trimmed earlier gains but closed up 0.1pc to 1,868.
Asia’s optimism comes while minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, published on Wednesday, contained a caution against late-year rate cuts traders have priced in.
Fed committee members noted that “unwarranted easing in financial conditions” would complicate efforts to restore price stability, the minutes showed.
