“Too many people were hired” ... Amazon.com, Inc. and Netflix face a wave of layoffs

[The Financial News] Major U.S. companies, including Amazon.com, Inc. and Netflix, are moving to cut jobs one after another.
According to the LA Times, Business Insider and others on the 10th (local time), Amazon.com, Inc. carried out layoffs, mainly in its Stores division, which oversees its e-commerce website. Fewer than 1,000 employees received layoff notices across business units in the U.S., India, the U.K. and elsewhere, including customer service, engineering and marketplace support.
Amazon.com, Inc. had already cut 30,000 jobs between the end of last year and the beginning of this year, and has continued making smaller workforce cuts like these since then.
Amazon.com, Inc. founder Jeff Bezos recently argued in an interview with U.S. network Fox News that the company had overhired during the pandemic, making ongoing layoffs unavoidable. He explained, “People stayed home then and placed more orders, and it was a time of pressure for us,” adding, “We achieved a great deal, but ultimately ended up expanding our workforce too much.”
A focus on AI investment is also cited as a factor behind the layoffs. Amazon.com, Inc. is investing heavily in its AI business and plans to put $220 billion (about 295.6 trillion won) into data centers and related infrastructure.
Netflix is also planning large-scale layoffs. The LA Times reported that “Netflix plans to lay off 800 employees, equivalent to 5% of its total workforce.” This is expected to be the company’s largest round of layoffs since 2022.
Netflix has increased its spending on content, but viewing hours grew by just 2% in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year. Ted Sarandos, the company’s co-CEO, has previously admitted, “We aren’t growing as quickly as we’d like.”
[email protected] Hong Chaewan Reporter