From Amazon’s Freeze to Lyft’s Layoffs, Tech Firms Brace for Tough Times

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Tech companies are once again tapping the brakes on hiring as they contend with sluggish consumer spending, higher interest rates and the impact of a strong dollar overseas.

Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday that it would pause adding new corporate workers, citing an “uncertain” economy and its hiring boom in recent years. Lyft Inc., the ride-hailing company, is going further: It will eliminate 13% of staff, or around 683 people.

Twitter Inc.'s cutbacks are under particular scrutiny as new owner Elon Musk shakes up the social-networking business and pares roughly half its jobs.

Tech companies made moves earlier this year to rein in costs, with many of the industry's biggest firms freezing hiring or cutting some departments. Even Apple Inc., which has outperformed most of its peers this year, is slowing spending and has paused much of its hiring. But some tech giants are finding that they now need to take more dramatic steps to trim their expenses.

More broadly, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday that job-cut announcements were up 48% year-over-year in October, with more layoffs “on the way.” A federal jobs report on Friday will give a clearer picture of US hiring trends. Even with the austerity, economists expect a net gain of 200,000 for non-farm payrolls.

Here are some of the latest companies to tighten their belts:

Amazon

The e-commerce titan halted “new incremental” hiring across its corporate workforce -- a decision Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy and his team made this week. “We anticipate keeping this pause in place for the next few months, and will continue to monitor what we're seeing in the economy and the business to adjust as we think makes sense,” according to Beth Galetti, Amazon's top human