Yahoo Finance Live looks at shares of Amazon and discusses recent trends including the pausing of construction on their new Virginia headquarters as well as the closing of 8 Amazon Go stores.
Video Transcript
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– My Triple Play is Amazon. Shares are up about 3% right now, despite news the company is pausing construction of its second headquarters– known as HQ2– in Arlington, Virginia. According to a statement provided to Yahoo Finance, Amazon said it’s reevaluating its real estate plans for phase two but said it’s still committed to the project, with more than 8,000 people already working in HQ2.
That being said, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has had to make some tough decisions lately, with the tech giant laying off more than 18,000 employees earlier this year, the largest layoffs in the company’s history. This amid slowing revenue growth and a shaky macro picture.
We also got the news today that Amazon will be cutting eight of its cashierless Amazon Go locations as sales slow. And, guys, it feels like after COVID, after the pandemic, we had this rush in hiring. Now all these tech companies are having to deal with the aftermath of this, coupled with the return to office hasn’t really been what people thought it would be. So Amazon just one of many companies caught in this crosshair.
DAVE BRIGGS: Yeah, that return to office has taken an interesting turn out there, as Andy Jassy wants three days a week starting May 1. 15,000 people joined an internal Slack channel and signed an internal position to complain. And then became a flip side– 700-plus pro return-to-office employees are now fighting internally over that policy.
I think what’s interest– this is just Jassy, really, discipline, the opposite of his predecessor. He had 100,000 square feet as part of that Virginia HQ2– 100,000 square feet of retail, not just the office. So I think this is what you’re seeing across the country. They’re also pumping the brakes in Nashville and in Washington on some real estate. It’s not a good environment for the commercial real estate sector overall. That concerns [INAUDIBLE].
SEANA SMITH: Yeah, exactly. And I was going to say, given the size of Amazon, the ripple effects that that sends throughout the economy– clearly, when Amazon makes a move like this, many industries take note, specifically commercial real estate. And this obviously will be a concerning trend here. We’re seeing more and more companies make similar types of decisions.
DAVE BRIGGS: Yeah, they have three 22-story buildings planned.
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