Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is to cut hundreds of corporate jobs after the ecommerce giant’s recent hiring binge left some divisions over budget and with too many staff.
No exact figures have been released yet, but The Seattle Times claims “several hundred” roles will be axed at the firm’s Seattle headquarters, with “hundreds more” facing the axe elsewhere.
Most of the losses will be in the firm’s retail division - which includes Amazon’s toys, books and grocery unit - to make room for new personnel in growing divisions such as Alexa, AWS and digital entertainment.
In the analysts’ call after the latest earnings report, chief executive Jeff Bezos said his firm would “double down” on Alexa after blowing past projections.
Some employees have already been informed that they have lost their jobs, while others will be told in coming weeks, according to the paper.
Rare cutback
The cutback is a rare one, especially given Amazon’s aggressive hiring strategy in recent years which has seen its global workforce swell to almost 600,000.
In a statement, the company said: “As part of our annual planning process, we are making head count adjustments across the company - small reductions in a couple of places and aggressive hiring in many others. For affected employees, we work to find roles in the areas where we are hiring."
The layoffs follow a reported hiring freeze towards the end of last year, the first sign that the company’s rapid expansion of the past few years was slowing down.
They also come at a time when the online shopping behemoth is on the lookout for a second headquarters.
Amazon shares rose 4% to US$1393.16 on Monday.