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Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

seattletimes.com

11–20 of 152 posts

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#11
post #2

Acc to article, seems like it’s happening in established businesses like Retail. Maybe those old businesses are due for some consolidation? In last earnings release, Bezos said he’s doubling down on Alexa, which I presume includes increased hiring.

Voice search is already huge and I imagine it may be even bigger. I see Amazon as a threat to Google in this area.

I could see these devices given way free as some kind of set-top+assistant if you buy our TV service.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#12
post #4

I wonder what type of positions are being targeted in these layoffs? They mentioned which groups but not whom.

My understanding is that most groups outside of Alexa and AWS are in a hiring freeze and they are trying to cut down on the amount of middle-management across the board.

Can confirm, the recruiter spam I get is now only Alexa and AWS - the retail section has all but stopped.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#13
post #4

I wonder what type of positions are being targeted in these layoffs? They mentioned which groups but not whom.

Also worth noting that the article doesn't say anything about re-hiring, or transferring. Just laid off. I wonder why..

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#14
Seattle Times likes to give Amazon bad press. Seattle has enough other tech companies to absorb a few hundred jobs. Companies routinely end up over-hiring or having redundant positions. It appears that they are laying off less than 10% of their Seattle staff, while they are still expanding the amount of office space they occupy in Seattle.

This seems like no big deal for Seattle and Amazon.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#16
post #4

I wonder what type of positions are being targeted in these layoffs? They mentioned which groups but not whom.

Also worth noting that the article doesn't say anything about re-hiring, or transferring. Just laid off. I wonder why..

it does

“As part of our annual planning process, we are making head count adjustments across the company — small reductions in a couple of places and aggressive hiring in many others,” a spokesman said. “For affected employees, we work to find roles in the areas where we are hiring.”

disc: Amazon employee

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#17
post #9

So why do they want a second corporate headquarters?

They have very nearly exhausted the pool of strong technical talent that can be recruited locally within the seattle area, who are not already gainfully employed at some other tech company. Also because building new office campus space in Seattle is becoming a bottleneck. Amazon is spread out through a bunch of temporarily leased buildings until the new towers are finished. Also they have sort of exhausted the number of people who are willing to relocate to Seattle.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#18
post #2

Acc to article, seems like it’s happening in established businesses like Retail. Maybe those old businesses are due for some consolidation? In last earnings release, Bezos said he’s doubling down on Alexa, which I presume includes increased hiring.

Voice search is already huge and I imagine it may be even bigger. I see Amazon as a threat to Google in this area.

> Amazon as a threat to Google in this area.

LOL. That is like saying Apple (iPhones) are a threat to Google (Android) when it was Apple that first brought touch-based smartphones to market.

You probably meant: "Google is a threat to Amazon in this area" because Amazon invented and still dominates the smart speaker category.

In other words, Google didn't know a market existed for such devices until Amazon created a market for them.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#19
post #2

Acc to article, seems like it’s happening in established businesses like Retail. Maybe those old businesses are due for some consolidation? In last earnings release, Bezos said he’s doubling down on Alexa, which I presume includes increased hiring.

Voice search is already huge and I imagine it may be even bigger. I see Amazon as a threat to Google in this area.

Surveys show that Alexa is being used for basic Siri 1.0 searches ("What's the weather","Play x on Pandora", timers, alarms, novelty questions) and little else. Few people have activated a skill or ordered something. A graphical user interface is going to be a vastly richer and more useful interactive experience for a very long time.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#20
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voice search is already huge and I imagine it may be even bigger. I see Amazon as a threat to Google in this area.

> Amazon as a threat to Google in this area. LOL. That is like saying Apple (iPhones) are a threat to Google (Android) when it was Apple that first brought touch-based smartphones to market. You probably meant: "Google is a threat to Amazon in this area" because Amazon invented and still dominates the smart speaker category. In other words, Google didn't know a market existed for such devices until Amazon created a m…

"Amazon's dominance in the emerging area of voice search is a threat to Google's general dominance in search." (Like the Apple's iPhone platform is a threat to Google, which Google is attempting to counter by promoting Android.)
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