Amazon founder Jeff Bezos loses almost $1 billion, a day after company fired 18 thousand employees
Amazon is currently sailing through the uncertainty of the economic slowdown. Just like other tech companies around the world, the Seattle-based firm has been greatly impacted by the ongoing wave of recession. And to curb the falling revenue, Amazon has decided to follow the path of cost-cutting by sacking thousands of employees from its global workforce. The tech giant already fired thousands of employees last year and is now all set to cut down more workforce in January. However, amid all the firings, the company saw a big dip in its share prices which directly impacted the net worth of its founder, Jeff Bezos.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index which tracks the real-time net worth of riches, Jeff Bezos lost around $949M (Year Till Date) which is around $1billion dollars in a day after Amazon announced to fire 18 thousand employees. Bezos, who is currently the 6th richest person on the planet with a $106 billion (as of January 6) net worth, is expected to lose more as Amazon shares are falling.
The e-commerce on Thursday announced plans to sack over 18,000 employees, citing economic conditions. CEO Andy Jassy released an official statement on the firings and wrote that ” This year’s review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years,” hence the company is continuing to lay off across departments. The layoffs will majorly impact Amazon Stores and PXT organizations.
Employees who will be impacted by the layoffs will receive the notice from January 18. However, the company announced the new prior “because one of our teammates leaked this information externally”, said Jassy.
Earlier in November 2022, Amazon fired thousands of employees across departments but didn’t reveal the exact number of affected employees. However, in the latest announcement, Jassy cleared that in total the company will fire 18 thousand employees. ” Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles,” he wrote in his message.
Significantly, the company will also help affected employees in the separation process by providing them with separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, external job placement support and more. “we will support the transition with a package that includes a separation payment, transitional benefits, and external job placement support,” said Dave Limp, Senior Vice President of Devices and Services Amazon.
