After the global economic collapse in March 2020, Amazon grew to become the most popular online retailer. It became critical to have things delivered to those who were unable to leave their homes, and Amazon grew as a result. Capital flooded in, the stock price rose, and the company ramped up its workforce and storage capacity to meet the surging demand.

Statista estimates that there were 840,000 people working for the firm at the start of the epidemic in the first quarter of 2020. By the beginning of 2022’s first quarter, it had over 1.6 million employees. The issue was that as the pandemic’s grip on society began to ease, consumers reverted back to shopping at traditional stores.

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, appears to be aware of the shift in consumer preferences, since he has been instructing his staff to seek for ways to decrease expenses as the company adapts to the new market environment.

Up to 10,000 positions may have been eliminated in the near future by Amazon as part of their efforts to compensate for the recruiting that occurred during the height of the epidemic, if reports are to be believed.

The company’s stock has lost over half of its worth this year, wiping out almost all of the gains it made in the wake of the outbreak. Consequently, both Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, have slightly less money to give away. Meanwhile, Jassy has a lot more problems to solve and is under more pressure to reduce operational expenses.

Even with Jassy’s promotion to the executive suite, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud division, has maintained its previous high level of success. Even Amazon Web Services saw slower growth in the third quarter as businesses looked for ways to reduce cloud spending.

Consider that AWS reported sales of $20.5 billion in Q3 2022, which was below the $21.1 billion that was predicted by industry analysts. Even though it may not seem like much, cloud computing is one of the few uber-growth fields, making a mistake in this area might have serious consequences.

However, it’s important to remember that AWS is well on its way to become a $80 billion corporation, so there’s nothing to be ashamed of; and most agree that the cloud computing industry still has potential to expand despite the current financial climate.

In other words, AWS is likely to fare well despite currency fluctuations, sluggish growth, and clients planning only moderate increases in IT investment in the coming year. While Jassy may be forced to reduce expenses across the board, AWS will likely be spared.