Amazon eliminates hundreds of jobs in rare cutback

Amazon.com is cutting several hundred jobs in Seattle and hundreds more around the world, paring back after several years of aggressive expansion, the Seattle Times reported. The cuts will mostly affect Amazon’s consumer retail business, according to the newspaper. The reduction is modest for the second-largest US based corporate employer, which counted 541,900 total employees at the end of the third quarter, and compared with companies like Microsoft and Boeing that have eliminated thousands in one fell swoop in recent years. But for Amazon, which has been expanding in groceries and logistics and where an emphasis on frugality and efficiency has been a source of pride, widespread layoffs are rare, the Times reported. Amazon acknowledged the cuts in a statement to the Times. “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, according to the Times. “For affected employees, we work to find roles in the areas where we are hiring.” Amazon said last year that it planned to create 100,000 jobs in the US as it bulks up fulfillment centers and adds more customer service representatives. The company is also in the process of choosing a city for its second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, where it plans to create 50,000 jobs in the next 10 to 15 years.