Amazon laying off hundreds amid hiring spurt

Amazon.com Inc. is laying off hundreds of workers, even as it continues on a nationwide hiring spree and seeks to build a new headquarters that could generate 50,000 new jobs. The Seattle Times reported Monday that the tech giant was cutting hundreds of jobs at its Seattle, Wash., headquarters, and hundreds more across its global operations. In a statement to the Times, Amazon acknowledged making “head count adjustments” and said it was making cuts in some areas while hiring in others. Resources seemed to be shifting from Amazon’s retail business to faster-growing units, such as voice assistant Alexa. The Times reported some of the cuts were aimed at weeding out lower-performing employees. Amazon’s workforce surged 66% last year, to 566,000 nationwide. Amazon reportedly had 4,000 job openings in Seattle as of Monday. Amazon shares are up 18.5% in 2018, and 67.5% in the past year, compared to the S&P 500’s 0.6% loss this year and 14.7% gain over the past year.

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