Amazon, the US-based e-commerce giant, has reportedly planned to lay off more than 18000 staff members, a considerably larger number than previously decided, in the latest inkling of an intensifying technological downturn.

As per reports, this new number would represent the most layoffs at a significant technology business to date.

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, revealed the layoffs in a memo to employees on Wednesday. Previously, it was anticipated that the layoffs, which started last year, would affect around 10,000 employees.

He stated that the company intends to begin addressing the changes with affected staff on January 18.

The reduction mostly affects Amazon's retail business and human resources activities like recruiting in the company's corporate ranks.

As of October 2021, Amazon employed over 2,000 full-time as well as part-time workers in Singapore. In order to expand its presence in the region, it established a new three-story office at Asia Square Tower 1 that month.

Although Amazon employed a lot of staff during the pandemic, the risk of job cuts has been looming over the firm for months, and the rising number shows that things are becoming worse for the company. It cuts thousands of workers in anticipation of a recession, joining other major heavyweights like Microsoft as well as Meta Platforms.

Salesforce had earlier declared plans to lay off around 10% of its workers and downsize its real estate holdings.

Amazon's investors responded favorably to the latest cost-cutting measures, betting that these could increase profits in the e-commerce business. The shares increased by over 2% in late-day trade on Wednesday after the Wall Street Journal broke the news of the plan.

The biggest layoff for tech companies during the present slowdown would be 18,000 employees, but Amazon also has a much larger workforce compared to its Silicon Valley competitors. At the end of September, it had over 1.5 million employees, so the most recent layoffs would account for around 1% of the total.

Source credit: https://www.straitstimes.com/business/amazon-to-slash-over-18000-jobs-as-e-commerce-giant-escalates-cutbacks