Over 18,000 Amazon Workers Stand To Lose Jobs In Biggest Tech Layoff Yet

Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) is planning to terminate the services of more than 18,000 workers.

What Happened: The staff reduction at Amazon is the highest in the past year at a major technology company, reported the Wall Street Journal.

The layoffs are to begin over the coming week and are largely concentrated on the company’s corporate workforce. 

Amazon initiated a monthslong cost-cutting review last year and told its employees in unprofitable divisions to look for work elsewhere. 

Between March and September last year, the company reduced its workforce from 1.62 million to 1.54 million. 

See Also: How To Buy Amazon (AMZN) Stock 

Why It Matters: The layoffs were to begin among its corporate workforce with cuts focused on its devices business, recruiting, and retail operations, according to an earlier report dating back to November. At the time it was said the Jeff Bezos-founded company would lay off nearly 10,000 people.

The e-commerce behemoth also announced a hiring pause for its corporate workforce the same month.

Amazon reported third-quarter revenue of $127.1 billion, a rise of 15% year-over-year, lower than a Wall Street estimate of $127.84 billion.

The company is guiding fourth-quarter revenue to be in the range of $140 billion to $148 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $155.15 billion.

Price Action: On Wednesday, Amazon shares closed 1.7% higher at $86.60 and fell 0.8% in the after-hours trading, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Read Next: Amazon Pulls Back But Here's Why The Downtrend Could Be Temporarily Finished