Amazon has grown to more than 935,000 employees worldwide, including 95,000 new hires in just the past few weeks, quickly rendering the number in its first-quarter earnings report out of date as it grows in response to the global pandemic.
As of the end of the first quarter, on March 31, Amazon had 840,400 full- and part-time employees, according to the company’s earnings report released Thursday. That number included 80,000 of the 175,000 people that the company announced it was hiring in its fulfillment and operations network, said Brian Olsavsky, Amazon’s chief financial officer, on a conference call with reporters.
The company has hired the remaining 95,000 as of this week, Olsavsky said. That brings Amazon’s total headcount to at least 935,400 employees, not counting additional hires in other parts of the company.
Depending on how many of those fulfillment and operations employees remain for the long term, the company could quickly approach or even exceed 1 million employees for the first time in the weeks or months ahead. Amazon said in its earnings release that it’s continuing to hire.
Amazon’s net sales rose 26% to $75.5 billion during the quarter, exceeding Wall Street’s expectations. But profits fell more than 30%, as the costs of scaling up for the pandemic weighed on the Seattle tech giant’s bottom line.
Before the crisis, Amazon’s headcount was already growing quickly. The company revealed it had 798,000 workers around the world in January. In the weeks that followed, governments around the world shut down retail and commerce and thousands of people turned to Amazon.com to have the items they need delivered.
“From online shopping to AWS to Prime Video and Fire TV, the current crisis is demonstrating the adaptability and durability of Amazon’s business as never before, but it’s also the hardest time we’ve ever faced,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement.
The surge in demand came amid virus outbreaks at Amazon warehouses around the world. To keep up with orders and cover for workers on sick leave, Amazon announced in March that it would hire 100,000 additional employees. In mid-April Amazon said the 100,000 positions had been filled and revealed plans to hire an additional 75,000.
Even with Amazon’s meteoric growth, it still employs less than half of its chief retail rival. Walmart has 2.2 million employees around the world.
