Tag: freezes
Amazon freezes construction of second headquarters in Virginia amid job cuts
Amazon is pausing construction on its second headquarters in Arlington, VA. The company tied the decision to “a reassessment of office needs to account for remote work,” although the move came months after the retailer laid off around 18,000 workers.
The online retailer confirmed the move to Bloomberg while insisting it’s still committed to the second headquarters (HQ2) in the Washington, DC suburb, where it has committed to hiring 25,000 workers and spending $2.5 billion. Amazon has already hired more than 8,000 people while completing the first phase of the new campus, including two towers in the 2.1-million-square-foot Metropolitan Park. The suspension affects development on PenPlace, a larger area across the street where it plans to build three 22-story office towers, a 350-ft corporate conference center and an indoor garden. In addition, the delay could have a ripple effect on the area as local developers, construction workers and other businesses have set plans in motion based on Amazon’s timeline.
“We’re always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees,” said Amazon real estate chief John Schoettler. “And since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we’ve decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace out a bit.”
Amazon’s county-approved plans require it to meet construction and permitting goals by April 2025 unless it gets an official extension.
The company settled on the Arlington offices after its hyped nationwide search for a second headquarters in 2017. Critics panned the move as a stunt to start a bidding war over who could offer the mega-corporation the juiciest taxpayer-funded incentives. Amazon initially settled on a split between Queens, NY and Northern Virginia but withdrew from Queens after facing opposition from local politicians and officials, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who objected to the nearly $3 billion in financial kickbacks the company was set to receive. Around 10 months after Amazon withdrew its New York plans, the company announced it would still build new offices in the Hudson Yards neighborhood of Manhattan’s West Side.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-freezes-construction-of-second-headquarters-in-virginia-amid-job-cuts-173755605.html?src=rss
Lordstown Motors freezes production to address quality issues
Lordstown Motors’ problems aren’t over just because it’s manufacturing electric pickup trucks. The fledgling brand is pausing production and customer deliveries to help it tackle “performance and quality issues” with some components in its Endurance truck. Accordingly, it’s partnering with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on a voluntary recall to fix a connection problem that could cut motor output while driving.
The recall will affect 19 vehicles already on the road, some of which were in use at Lordstown. The company isn’t offering an estimate as to when production will resume, but claims it’s making “significant progress” on component and subsystem issues holding up manufacturing. More details are expected to come when the firm holds its next earnings call on the morning of March 6th.
The freeze is tiny compared to issues at rivals like Tesla, which has recalled hundreds of thousands of cars (if frequently for software-only problems). However, Lordstown hasn’t made many pickups so far — it only delivered the first trucks from its initial 500-unit wave in November, and said last year that it only expected to sell 3,000 Endurance models through 2023. The halt and recall are proportionately huge.
Lordstown also doesn’t have much breathing room. GM sold its stake in late 2021, just a few months after Lordstown warned it didn’t have enough money to make its signature truck. The startup then raised funds by selling its plant to manufacturing heavyweight Foxconn. It deepened the relationship in November in exchange for two Foxconn-chosen seats on the board of directors. There’s pressure on Lordstown to turn things around, and setbacks like this don’t help.
Hell freezes over: Apple allegedly working on app sideloading for iPhones
The tech industry’s moment of reckoning: layoffs and hiring freezes
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Over the past few months, the economy has started to turn, and tech workers are being hit hard. Meta, Twitter, and more have fired thousands, and others are slowing or freezing hiring.
Disney reportedly freezes hiring and expects some layoffs
Disney CEO Bob Chapek has told division leads in a letter that the company is implementing cost cutting measures in part to help it “achieve the important goal of reaching profitability for Disney+ in fiscal 2024.” Based on the internal memo obtained by CNBC, Disney is planning to limit additions to its workforce through a targeted hiring freeze. It will still welcome new people for the “most critical, business-driving positions,” but all other roles are on hold for now. Chapek has also admitted in his letter that Disney “anticipate[s] some staff reductions” as it looks at all aspects of its business to find places where it can save money.
Chapek’s letter comes after Disney reported less-than-stellar earnings for the previous quarter. While Disney+ welcomed 12.1 million new subscribers for the company’s fourth fiscal quarter ending on October 1st, the company’s operating loss for streaming jumped from $0.8 billion to $1.5 billion. The company expects its losses to taper off going forward, thanks to its streaming services’ price hikes and the launch of an ad-supported tier on Disney+. In his memo, Chapek also reiterated he is “confident in [the company’s] ability to reach the targets [it has] set,” but Disney clearly intends to tighten its belt until it hits its goals.
Disney is but one of the many companies imposing a hiring freeze due to the economic downturn. When Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg announced that the Facebook parent company is laying off 11,000 employees, he also said that it’s extending its hiring freeze through the first quarter of 2023. Amazon froze hiring at its corporate offices earlier this month, as well.
Amazon freezes hiring at its corporate offices
Amazon is joining the ranks of tech companies freezing their recruitment plans. Engadget has obtained a memo from Senior VP Beth Galetti (since published) revealing that the company will “pause” hiring at its corporate offices for a few months. The internet giant will still replace departing employees and hire new people in “targeted places,” Galetti wrote but there won’t be any significant expansion in the near future.
As with other companies, Amazon attributed its freeze decision to an “unusual macro-economic environment.” The firm doesn’t want to spend too much money growing its workforce in difficult financial conditions, to put it another way. Galetti added that Amazon still wants to hire a “meaningful number” of corporate workers in 2023, but that the online shopping giant will track the economy and adjust as it “makes sense.”
Amazon had no further comment. It hired aggressively during the height of the pandemic to keep up with a spike in online sales, but ran into trouble this year due to both a return to in-person shopping and mounting costs. The company posted a $2 billion loss during its second quarter (April through June) and cut 99,000 jobs, many of them warehouse workers. It also cancelled the launch of some facilities. In early October, it temporarily halted corporate hires for its retail business.
The pause comes weeks after Meta reportedly suspended all hiring, and months after big names like Apple, Google and NVIDIA have slowed their pursuits. Some companies are making additional cuts — Lyft just confirmed that it’s laying off 700 workers, or about 13 percent of its workforce, after cutting 60 positions in July.
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India Freezes Peter Thiel-Backed Vauld’s Crypto and Bank Assets Worth $46 Million
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