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Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

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Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#141

Post by chihuahua »

WalterBright wrote: post #85
VincentEvans wrote: post #36

Here’s a thought that has been percolating in my mind for a bit since these “market adjustments” began a month or two back. Somehow at some point, in what perhaps could be blamed on the ever-hated mass produced MBAs - companies got really comfortable with the “it’s not personal, it’s just good business” of letting go of their employees for a slightest reason, or sometimes for no reason at all - just to make it look t…

I long ago concluded that the way to make pots o' money is to: 1. go out for a walk. Offer the first good looking man a CEO-ship of your new company. 2. pay him $$$$$ 3. hire loads of people 4. fire them all 5. goto 3

In this scheme, where do the pots 'o money come from?

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#142

Post by bushbaba »

dkrich wrote: post #86
partiallypro wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon and all of these companies are laying people off based on future forecasts, not based on the current economy. Regardless of if people are first, no company wants teams sitting around not doing anything. I've been laid off, it sucks, but just because Amazon is making money today doesn't mean it will be tomorrow.

What’s unusual about this cycle though is that it’s the fear of a recession due to fed policy that is causing companies to cut back. In past cycles fed policy caused a recession nobody predicted and companies suddenly found their earnings in the toilet and made enormous cuts in head count, R&D spending, etc. Something about this cycle and these cuts feels I dunno, manufacturered or something. Like are 7k high paying…

There’s preliminary data that shows a recession is currently underway. This is reactionary. if the fed cuts rates and stop’s quantity tightening then sure, Amazon will likely u-turn. But that’s due to a situational change.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#143

Post by haimez »

gwright wrote: post #103
asdff wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how its rational unless you assume staff have negative value. They don't, they have positive value, nothing gets done without staff. More staff means you output more work and make more money. Staff should be the last thing to cut.

That isn't the way a business works. There is no intrinsic value to "staff", positive or negative. The value comes from the way staff (or any other resources) is utilized. Building twice as many widgets by building and staffing a second factory could have a huge negative value if there is no demand for twice as many widgets in the market, for example.

Staff does have a negative intrinsic value- they are paid salaries. If (and only if) the business can deliver on some arbitrary stated goals, it’s more valuable if it can do so with fewer people on staff.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#144

Post by zmgsabst »

laidoffamazon wrote: post #134
zmgsabst wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand you find Brian O’s racism and funding of terrorists who shoot black kids to be normal — even something that you’re proud of. And that you find it strange people would object to that. I think you’ll be surprised that outside your bubble, most Americans don’t support CFOs funding terrorists that murder children. Again, I think this points to a clear lack of morals from you.

Nobody knows what you're talking about!

Yes — I understand you tried to dismiss the CFO funding the terrorists who gunned down Antonio Mays Jr from total ignorance. To you, the death of a black teenager is a topic that it’s okay to bullshit about and dismiss out of hand.

Most people would have looked up the murder I was talking about before trying to dismiss it — but triggered bigots often get ahead of themselves.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/everybody-down-wha...

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#145

Post by HDThoreaun »

subsaharancoder wrote: post #132
rvz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's crazy that AMZN announces this and the stock goes up in after hours trading. No it isn't. It is quite typical for a companies stock to spike up after a layoff announcement especially when the number was higher than initially reported. And as always totally expected.

Meta stock went from a low of $89 to now $124 after the layoffs. Wallstreet loves some good bloodshed and rewards it with higher stock price! P.S. Ex-Meta who got impacted by the layoffs

Meta especially went up because their biggest problem is mark going rogue. Investors have no control over him and he’s been continuously signaling over the last year that he has no interest in listening to them. The layoffs were a token that showed he hadn’t totally turned his back. A bit of a unique situation.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#146

Post by peruvian »

thfuran wrote: post #126
i_have_an_idea wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no opinion on the MBA bit, but I think you're spot on about people starting to treat companies the way the companies are treating them. ~10 years ago, when I got my first job, I was in the minority, pretty much the only person cynical about big companies' claims how "people are our most important resource", how important is the company "culture" and all of that corporate kumbaya. And, at that point, the vast m…

>I was in the minority, pretty much the only person cynical about big companies' claims how "people are our most important resource" You tread in strange circles. I'd think a cursory look at history ought to be enough to put the lie to such claims.

It's crazy to think but people do drink the kool-aid, despite history.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#147

Post by kaesar14 »

lapcat wrote: post #120
metadat wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No company has the slightest clue what the economic environment will look like in 3 years, much less 5.

So true. Which company predicted there would be a global pandemic starting at the end of 2019? None. Impossible to predict. Which company predicted 9/11? None. Shit happens, and nobody is a prophet.

It’s a good thing the only cost of their prediction capabilities is human welfare and security, small potatoes in the end.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#148

Post by anonreeeeplor »

I have interviewed with Amazon several times. Every time I don’t make it through because I realized the people in many of the roles were (a) not the best people (b) I seemed to know way more than many of them about their domain (c) they kept trying to offer me horizontal transfer (d) they wanted to pay me less than I know I am worth.

My impression is Amazon is a factory tuned to hire and churn a sort of middle of the road white collar worker with no creativity who can sort of plug into some pre designed module and churn away and be yelled at to “go faster.”

Some of the people I met at Amazon we’re ultra talented but all the ones I ever interviewed with seemed like total morons.

I never understood why. Maybe I just interviewed with the wrong teams

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#149

Post by HDThoreaun »

metadat wrote: post #125
HDThoreaun wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hence the layoffs. They still have to try though

Do they really need to "try" by laying peole off? Why is this the standard move despite the business and finances still booming? It's a weird MBA monkey mimicry game. I dislike Amazon yet continue to order stuff at the same rate. How many non-government entities have a base like this? Seems like an enviable position. How many layoff announcements have you seen where the company says "We'd love to keep pursuing this b…

Companies, especially tech companies, invest in their future. Sometimes those bets don’t pay off, sometimes it’s because of external factors. That doesn’t mean those were bad bets necessarily, they just got unlucky. It does mean investors want them to move on to something else though, even if the company as a whole isn’t in a crisis.

Re: Amazon to Lay Off over 17,000 Workers, More Than First Planned

#150

Post by monktastic1 »

asdff wrote: post #65
adoxyz wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laying people off reduces one of the biggest costs to an organization, thus making it more profitable (even if in the short term), thus the stock price rises. Stocks are always forward looking and investors believe that by cutting down costs and re-focusing will make amazon worth more in the future.

How can a company be more profitable with less workers if the workers are the source of the profits?

By this logic, every company should always maximize the number of employees they have, regardless of whether they have anything useful to do.
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