Amazon to layoff more than 17,000 employees

Amazon's latest round of layoffs will hit more than 17,000 of its employees, marking the largest such staffing cut among big companies in the past year. 

Though the company announced substantial layoffs in November of 2022, which the Wall Street Journal estimated at the time would affect 10,000 positions, the continuing cuts will bring the total reduction to around 17,000, the same outlet reported.

The outlet attributed the staff drawdown in part to the rapid expansion of the firm's online business during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has since leveled off as consumers return to the brick and mortar retail centers that compete with the website.

Amazon expanded its workforce by the thousands during that period and also advanced its other businesses such as grocery delivery. The cuts follow an extensive financial review of the firm's expenses, which it conducted in the middle of last year.

The company's declining post-COVID fortunes have hit its partners as well. Fabric pod array (FPA) manufacturer Gilimex is now suing the company for $280 million after the Big Tech company ended its contract to purchase the FPAs in May of 2022. Amazon uses FPAs as a means of enabling efficient packaging and shipping of products to their customers.

Amazon had dramatically escalated its production targets for Gilimex amid rising shipping volume during the pandemic. The Vietnamese firm now contends that Amazon's termination of the deal has adversely affected the company, as it had to turn away other business to keep up with Amazon's demands and restructured its facilities to accommodate it.