虽然亚马逊计划开始史上规模最大的裁员,但这家公司并没有对持续数年的爆炸性增长和过度招聘感到后悔。
亚马逊CEO安迪·贾西在11月宣布,公司将在多个部门开始裁员,并表示裁员可能持续到2023年。在贾西宣布该消息几天前,《纽约时报》曾报道,该公司计划在设备、零售和人力资源等部门裁员约10,000人。
周三,在《纽约时报》的“交易录”峰会上,贾西证实了大规模裁员的消息,称未来的经济不确定性,导致公司不得不削减开支。他说道:“我们只是认为需要削减成本。”
与此同时,虽然公司今年的策略突然发生转变,但贾西依旧在为亚马逊过去几年的大规模招聘和爆炸式增长辩护。
亚马逊零售业务在疫情初期飞速增长,每天一度新招聘1,400人。贾西在周三表示:“当时,疫情迫使我们不得不增加投入,快速建设基础设施,投入力度超乎我们的想象。”
他还表示:“我们知道可能面临过度扩张的问题。”
今年,科技公司的经济环境整体低迷,许多科技公司都通过裁员来削减成本。亚马逊也受到刺激,开始执行削减成本的措施。Twitter、Meta和微软(Microsoft)都宣布今年裁员,而且许多公司裁员的原因类似:随着疫情封控阶段结束,对科技产品的需求下降。
亚马逊并未立即答复《财富》杂志的置评请求。
亚马逊计划裁员的部门之一是设备部,最近几年该部门一直在拖累公司的业绩。据《华尔街日报》上个月报道,该部门曾有超过10,000名员工,设计研发Alexa和Echo等设备,最近几年每年可能给公司造成50亿美元损失。
设备销售疲软迫使亚马逊将精力投入到其他部门,包括广告和销售业务。广告业务去年给公司贡献了312亿美元收入。虽然通常较为繁忙的节日季已经来临,但在10月召开的最近一次股东大会上,亚马逊公布的收入不及华尔街预期,并警告预计未来销售额会有所下滑。
该公司的管理者表示,他们预计今年第四季度的收入在1,400亿美元至1,480亿美元之间,年增长率只有2%至8%,远低于其去年第四季度10%的年增长率。
根据亚马逊糟糕的业绩报告,美国银行(Bank of America)的分析师认为“美国可能已经陷入了经济衰退”,因为消费者支出已经显现出放缓的迹象。
但本周,零售商在节日季强势开局,创下历史记录,或许能够改善未来的经济前景。据Adobe Analytics统计,在“网络星期一”消费者支出达到创纪录的113亿美元,该公司在周三宣布,感恩节周末购物也“打破了记录”,消费支出规模“为史上之最”。(财富中文网)
翻译:刘进龙
审校:汪皓
虽然亚马逊计划开始史上规模最大的裁员,但这家公司并没有对持续数年的爆炸性增长和过度招聘感到后悔。
亚马逊CEO安迪·贾西在11月宣布,公司将在多个部门开始裁员,并表示裁员可能持续到2023年。在贾西宣布该消息几天前,《纽约时报》曾报道,该公司计划在设备、零售和人力资源等部门裁员约10,000人。
周三,在《纽约时报》的“交易录”峰会上,贾西证实了大规模裁员的消息,称未来的经济不确定性,导致公司不得不削减开支。他说道:“我们只是认为需要削减成本。”
与此同时,虽然公司今年的策略突然发生转变,但贾西依旧在为亚马逊过去几年的大规模招聘和爆炸式增长辩护。
亚马逊零售业务在疫情初期飞速增长,每天一度新招聘1,400人。贾西在周三表示:“当时,疫情迫使我们不得不增加投入,快速建设基础设施,投入力度超乎我们的想象。”
他还表示:“我们知道可能面临过度扩张的问题。”
今年,科技公司的经济环境整体低迷,许多科技公司都通过裁员来削减成本。亚马逊也受到刺激,开始执行削减成本的措施。Twitter、Meta和微软(Microsoft)都宣布今年裁员,而且许多公司裁员的原因类似:随着疫情封控阶段结束,对科技产品的需求下降。
亚马逊并未立即答复《财富》杂志的置评请求。
亚马逊计划裁员的部门之一是设备部,最近几年该部门一直在拖累公司的业绩。据《华尔街日报》上个月报道,该部门曾有超过10,000名员工,设计研发Alexa和Echo等设备,最近几年每年可能给公司造成50亿美元损失。
设备销售疲软迫使亚马逊将精力投入到其他部门,包括广告和销售业务。广告业务去年给公司贡献了312亿美元收入。虽然通常较为繁忙的节日季已经来临,但在10月召开的最近一次股东大会上,亚马逊公布的收入不及华尔街预期,并警告预计未来销售额会有所下滑。
该公司的管理者表示,他们预计今年第四季度的收入在1,400亿美元至1,480亿美元之间,年增长率只有2%至8%,远低于其去年第四季度10%的年增长率。
根据亚马逊糟糕的业绩报告,美国银行(Bank of America)的分析师认为“美国可能已经陷入了经济衰退”,因为消费者支出已经显现出放缓的迹象。
但本周,零售商在节日季强势开局,创下历史记录,或许能够改善未来的经济前景。据Adobe Analytics统计,在“网络星期一”消费者支出达到创纪录的113亿美元,该公司在周三宣布,感恩节周末购物也“打破了记录”,消费支出规模“为史上之最”。(财富中文网)
翻译:刘进龙
审校:汪皓
Amazon isn’t sorry about years of explosive growth and overhiring—even as it kicks off the largest job-cutting campaign in its history.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced in November that the company would begin laying off employees across multiple departments, and suggested terminations are likely to continue into 2023. Jassy’s comment came days after the New York Times reported the company had plans to lay off around 10,000 employees across its devices, retail, and human resources divisions.
Jassy justified the mass layoffs on Wednesday at the New York Times DealBook Summit, citing economic uncertainty ahead that prompted the company to cut back on expenses. “We just felt like we needed to streamline our costs,” he said.
But at the same time, Jassy defended the wave of hiring and explosive growth Amazon has enjoyed over the past few years, despite the abrupt about-turn the company has been forced to take this year.
Amazon’s retail business grew tremendously during the early days of the pandemic, and at one point the company was adding as many as 1,400 new hires a day. “It forced us to make decisions at that time to spend a lot more money and to go much faster in building infrastructure than we ever imagined we would,” Jassy said Wednesday.
“We knew we might be overbuilding,” he added.
Amazon’s cost-cutting measures this year were sparked by a darkening economic environment for tech sector companies, many of which have also resorted to layoffs to keep expenses down. Twitter, Meta, and Microsoft have announced cuts this year too, and many have called out a similar culprit: falling demand for tech products as the lockdown stage of the pandemic faded.
Amazon did not immediately reply to Fortune’s request for comment.
One of the Amazon divisions going through layoffs is its devices department, which has been a drain on the company in recent years. The unit, which in the past had over 10,000 employees working on devices including Alexa and Echo, may have been losing the company as much as $5 billion annually in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
Weak sales in devices have seen Amazon lean on other units including its advertising operation—which generated $31.2 billion in revenue last year—as well as sales. But despite entering its traditionally busy holiday season, Amazon warned during its last shareholder meeting in October to expect lower sales in the future after reporting dismal earnings that fell short of Wall Street expectations.
The company’s managers said they expect fourth quarter revenue this year to be between $140 billion and $148 billion, which would represent annual growth of just 2% to 8%, far below the 10% annual growth the company managed during the fourth quarter of last year.
Amazon’s bad earnings report prompted Bank of America analysts to claim that “the recession may be here already” as consumer spending shows signs of slowing down.
But that outlook may have been boosted by the record-strong start to the holiday season retailers observed this week. Consumers spent a record $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday, according to Adobe Analytics, and the company announced on Wednesday that the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend had been “record-breaking” and its “biggest ever.”