Amazon to axe 18,000 jobs

Online retail giant Amazon, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, said it was getting rid of 18,000 jobs, despite soaring profits during the Covid pandemic, as it blamed an uncertain economic outlook.

The job cuts are the largest in the company’s history as consumers wrestle with soaring inflation amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Chief executive Andy Jassy told employees in a note the layoffs would mostly hit Amazon’s physical stores, which include Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, and its PXT organizations, which handle human resources and other functions.

Meanwhile, Amazon is about to be hit by its first-ever strike in the UK as workers at its Coventry warehouse walk out over pay.

Members of the GMB union based at the warehouse will walk out on 25 January after voting in favour of taking industrial action.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com