Amazon is preparing to lay off tens of thousands of corporate workers, reversing its pandemic hiring spree.
The cuts come months after the retail giant’s CEO warned white-collar employees their jobs could be taken by artificial intelligence.
While the layoffs would represent a small portions of Amazon’s sprawling global workforce of 1.55 million employees, they would hit about 10% of its roughly 350,000 corporate employees.
Shares in the firm, which is scheduled to report quarterly earnings later this week, rose 1.2% on Monday.
Other giants of the internet have likewise backtracked on the major hiring undertaken during the coronavirus pandemic.
In recent years, Amazon has been trimming smaller numbers of jobs across multiple divisions, including devices, communications, podcasting and others.
Fortune reported that as many as 15% of the firm’s HR roles could be hit, citing multiple sources familiar with Amazon’s plans. »