For Amazon, the pandemic was one long party; now comes the hangover

Amazon has announced it is sacking more than 18,000 people, almost double the number initially announced in November and the largest in its history, representing 5% of management positions and 1.2% of its total workforce of 1.5 million employees.

Why is a company that has enjoyed record growth over the last three years suddenly laying people off? Apparently, due to the mistaken belief that the pace set by the pandemic would stabilize around these levels. The early days of the pandemic in 2020 found a company perfectly prepared to deal with such a crisis: overnight, Amazon was the first choice in many countries to stock up on products without leaving home during lockdown, when the general impression was that going out to shop was akin to exposing oneself to chemical or biological war. By April of 2020, the company’s stock had been pushed to an all-time high by a huge increase in demand, and it was turning over more than $10,000 per second.

It was as if Amazon had been preparing all its life for a pandemic that would force people to stay at home, and it certainly seized the opportunity: between January 2020 and July 2021, it nearly doubled its workforce in the United States while seeing significant growth in its other markets. It opened more than 100 new stores in the country’s continental states alone to…