Whole Foods to Lay Off Hundreds of Corporate Employees

Whole Foods Market, a grocery chain owned by Amazon.com Inc., announced on Thursday that it plans to lay off hundreds of corporate employees as part of its reorganization process.

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Apparently, the chain plans to cut the number of operating regions from nine to six, according to an internal memo obtained and reviewed by Trade Algo. There will be no job cuts in stores or distribution centers, and what will be eliminated amounts to about 0.5% of the total number of employees employed by the grocery chain as a whole. There are approximately 500 Whole Foods grocery stores across North America and the UK, and based on the memo that was issued, Whole Foods plans to open more than 30 new stores per year in the coming years.

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“To support Whole Foods Market's continued growth and expansion of its reach in order to better serve its customers, we are evolving our operating structure and making adjustments to some of our corporate teams so that we can better support our stores," a spokesperson said in a statement.

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In conjunction with Whole Foods' job cuts, Amazon is currently working to reduce its costs and wind down marginal or unprofitable projects in a bid to reduce costs. After beginning to lay off thousands of workers in November, Seattle-based Amazon has since laid off thousands more workers in January as well. Andy Jassy, the company's chief executive officer, stated in March that there could be more job cuts coming this month, once managers have identified which roles they will be eliminated in the coming weeks. A total of 27,000 people are expected to lose their jobs as a result of Amazon's restructuring plans. 

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Shares of Amazon were little changed in extended trading following their closing price in New York of $103.81. This year, Amazon has seen a 24% increase in its stock price.