During the June quarter, Amazon laid off close to 100,000 employees i.e almost 6% of the total.
In addition to Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Shopify, and other big tech companies have also laid off workers in large numbers. In contrast, Google has not fired anyone but slowed down.
The company reported on its earnings report that its full-time and part-time employees totaled 1,523,000 in the June quarter.
At the end of March, there were 1,622,000 employees. Brian Olsavsky, Amazon's Chief Financial Officer, cited overstaffing as the reason for the mass firings.
We quickly went from being understaffed to being overstaffed when the variant subsided in the second half of the quarter, leading to a reduction in productivity.
Amazon is still the largest employer in the tech sector despite its decrease in headcount.
Cost-cutting is not exclusive to Amazon. The hiring process at Google has also slowed.
Through a memo, Sundar Pichai informed the company's employees that hiring has slowed.
As a means to cope with a possible economic slump, Apple is also planning to slow hiring and focus on potential divisions.