Amazon Deepens Tech-sector Gloom With Another 9,000 Layoffs
© Thomson Reuters FILE PHOTO: The Amazon.Com logo and stock price information is seen on screens at the Nasdaq Market Site in New York CityBy Jeffrey Dastin and Tiyashi Datta
(Reuters) - Amazon.Com Inc on Monday said it would axe another 9,000 roles, piling on to a wave of layoffs that has swept the technology sector as an uncertain economy forces companies to get leaner.
© Thomson Reuters Amazon logo at the company logistics center in Lauwin-PlanqueIn a remarkable turn for a company that has long touted its job creation, Amazon will have eliminated 27,000 positions in recent months, or 9% of its roughly 300,000-strong corporate workforce.
The latest cuts focus on Amazon's highly-profitable cloud and advertising divisions, once seen as untouchable until economic concerns led business customers to scrutinize their spending.
© Thomson Reuters FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics centre in BovesThe layoffs will affect Amazon's streaming unit Twitch as well. Dan Clancy, who was named as CEO of Twitch last week, said the platform will lay off more than 400 employees.
Amazon aims to finalize whom it will terminate in the new round of job cuts by April.
The company's stock fell 1.8%.
The decision follows a near-endless drumbeat of layoff news in the technology sector that has seen some of the world's most valuable corporations, among them Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc, sever ties with staggering numbers of employees they once courted in droves.
"I don't think this means much for other companies, except that all will be more careful before allowing their headcount to balloon in the future," Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said.
In what now seems a harbinger, Facebook's parent Meta Platforms Inc said last week it would cut 10,000 jobs this year, kicking off a second round of layoffs for the sector following its elimination of more than 11,000 roles in 2022.
Amazon to cut 9,000 additional jobs
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GRAPHIC-Amazon announces fresh layoffs of 9,000 employees (https://www.Reuters.Com/graphics/TECH-LAYOFFS/META/byprlmorqpe/graphic.Jpg)
In a note to staff that Amazon posted online, its CEO Andy Jassy said the decision stemmed from an ongoing analysis of priorities and uncertainty about the economy.
"Some may ask why we didn't announce these role reductions with the ones we announced a couple months ago," he wrote. "The short answer is that not all of the teams were done with their analyses in the late fall."
"Given the uncertain economy in which we reside, and the uncertainty that exists in the near future, we have chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount."
Amazon last month said operating profit may continue to slump in the current quarter, hit by the financial impact of consumers and cloud customers clamping down on spending.
The Athena Coalition, a labor and activist group that is critical of Amazon, said in a statement: "None of these layoffs have to happen. Jassy is choosing to make them happen to pad Amazon's bottom line."
The company has scaled back or shut down entire services like its virtual primary care offering for employers in recent months.
(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in Palo Alto, Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gaffen, Nick Zieminski and Devika Syamnath)
Amazon's Tech Is A Hit: Seattle Mariners Add Three More Stadium Stores Featuring 'Just Walk Out'
© Provided by Geekwire Seattle Mariners fans enter a "Walk-Off Market" at T-Mobile Park in 2022 during the first game featuring a food and beverage store with Amazon's Just Walk Out technology. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser)Technology and tech culture are taking a permanent spot in the lineup at T-Mobile Park this season.
The Seattle Mariners have added three more food and beverage stores with Amazon's "Just Walk Out" cashierless technology at the baseball stadium — and another food location is named with just emojis.
The three "Walk-Off Markets," which will be operational on Opening Day this Thursday, join another that debuted last season. T-Mobile Park is the leading ballpark in the country when it comes to this style of concession service.
The new Market locations are in sections 141, 185 and 341. The flagship Market is in section 126.
According to the Mariners, the Walk Off Market on the main concourse behind home plate served the most fans out of any concession location at T-Mobile Park last season. The fastest shopping time last season was 20 seconds, and the average time shopping was 2 minutes and 3 seconds.
The goal of Just Walk Out tech at stadiums is to help fans avoid lines for food and drink and get them back in their seats as quickly as possible.
Just Walk Out first debuted in 2018 in Seattle with Amazon Go convenience stores. It's now used in some larger Amazon grocery stores and has spread to a number of other locations, including sports and entertainment venues and airports. Lumen Field and Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle both feature stores utilizing the technology, which relies on a number of cameras in the ceiling to track customers and what they pick up. Payment is tied to a credit card used to enter the stores.
© Provided by Geekwire The Walk-Off Market format at T-Mobile park is designed to help fans avoid concession stand lines and get back to their seats quickly. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser)Along with Just Walk Out, the new Markets will also feature Amazon One, the company's palm-scanning technology that allows visitors to enter and pay with credit card information that is linked to a biometric reading of their hand. Fans can register for Amazon One at a kiosk on the spot. Amazon last week announced a deal to bring Amazon One to Panera stores.
The Markets in sections 141 and 126 will feature an assortment of snacks, beverages, value menu items and premium entrees from Seattle partners Just Poke and Din Tai Fung. A new "Ham Swaggerty" sandwich is named for utility infielder Sam Haggerty.
In sections 185 and 341, fans can use Walk-Off Brews to snag snacks and a variety of non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages.
The Mariners announced more new food locations and menu items last week and among them is the first all-emoji food stand.
The 🐔🐔💥 (Chick Chick Boom) chicken concept in right field will feature 🐔🧇 🍟💧(chicken tenders and waffle fries with bottled water) and a T-Mobile Park favorite, 🧄🧇🍟 (garlic waffle fries).
What Is Amazon Renewed? Amazon's Refurbished Storefront
© Provided by Pocket-lintIf you've browsed a lot on Amazon in recent years, you might have spotted at various points that you can buy refurbished products from it, ones that still have a good guarantee that they'll work nicely and for a long while.
Amazon Renewed is what it calls this refurbished storefront (some people therefore call it Amazon Refurbished by accident), and you can often find some really good discounts on products across a range of tech categories, making them more affordable than brand-new versions. Here are all the details.
What are Amazon Renewed devices?Devices that Amazon sells through its Renewed service, which you can browse on the storefront here, are not new. Instead, they've been refurbished to "work and look like new", according to Amazon.
They have a guarantee that lasts a year, meaning they'll work perfectly for at least that length of time, although it's worth noting that brand new devices often do have longer guarantees than this.
Think of it like buying a "like new" product on a marketplace like eBay, just with a lot more guarantees and Amazon's stamp of authenticity on it.
What can I buy from Amazon Renewed?Amazon Renewed covers a range of product categories, divided into the following list that will be familiar from its main site:
That means that you can pick up a whole bunch of different types of product through the programme, all with that same one-year guarantee.
Is Amazon Renewed reliable?You might be wondering if you can trust Amazon Renewed, but the good news is that it's a pretty good system - you'll get your devices as they're described, often for very good prices.
What you have to accept, though, is that the guarantee is only for a year. So, if you want a longer-term guarantee or warranty, you might want to shop full-price or elsewhere.
That guarantee is pretty ironclad, though - if you don't think the product works as it should, you can return it for a full refund or a replacement at any point.
How to buy Amazon Renewed products?Finding renewed products on Amazon can be a little hit-and-miss - when you're searching for a certain thing on the store, you might occasionally see a surprisingly affordable offer, and then notice "(Renewed)" on the end of its name, for example.
If you want to check out renewed deals only, though, you can follow this link to the relevant section on Amazon's site and view a more limited catalogue of its offers.
As with any product, it's worth checking the the Amazon reviews on a Renewed product to see what other people have made of it.
Are Amazon Renewed devices and deals good?More good news about Amazon Renewed is that it actually gets some really good devices through its pages - its used phones, for example, don't show the very latest flagships but do have iPhones from a couple of years ago at solid prices.
Whether the deals are good is a matter of research - you'll be well-advised to check out the market and see what the devices in question fetch when new, for example, before you commit to buying one. Similarly, seeing what you can get for a used version that doesn't have Amazon's guarantee is worth looking into as well.
Broadly, though, there are some good prices to explore, and Amazon is also fond of slapping really impressive discounts on its own devices like Fire tablets and Alexa speakers.
