Amazon's elves: The company is hiring 150k seasonal workers

11/27/22 7:00PM

Amazon's seasonal army

‍As the busy holiday season gets underway (see above for Black Friday data), retailers have been hiring in preparation for all the sale-seeking shoppers.

The king of online retail, Amazon, requires the most help in meeting the holiday demand — hiring another 150,000 seasonal employees in the US this year. That hiring spree is equivalent to hiring the entire workforce of retail rivals Macy’s and Burlington. It’s also roughly equivalent to the entire workforce of Disney, nearly 2x Nike’s and triple the 49,000 employed by Goldman Sachs.

Attracting that many workers in the current hot labor market is no mean feat, so to sweeten the deal Amazon is offering a $3,000 signing bonus and average starting pay at $18 an hour.

The original kings of Christmas retail, Walmart, are cutting back however, suggesting a potential split between online and physical stores. Indeed, Walmart is only adding40,000 seasonal workers this year, far fewer than the 150,000 that they added in 2021.

Max Knoblauch7h

Paramount reportedly receives $24 billion from Gulf funds to back its Warner Bros. takeover

Three Middle East sovereign wealth funds have agreed to back Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery to the tune of roughly $24 billion, according to Wall Street Journal reporting.

The company’s triumph over Netflix in the bidding war came thanks in part to financial backing from Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, billionaire father of Paramount CEO David Ellison.

Saudi Arabia’s PIF, which last year led the $55 billion deal to take Electronic Arts private, will provide about $10 billion in the deal. The Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding Co. is also involved.

According to the WSJ, the funds will not receive voting rights in the combined Paramount-Warner company. Those working on the deal don’t expect the Gulf funds’ involvement to spark any additional regulatory reviews.

Exclusive | Gulf Funds Agree to Back Paramount’s $81 Billion Takeover of Warner

The company’s triumph over Netflix in the bidding war came thanks in part to financial backing from Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, billionaire father of Paramount CEO David Ellison.

Hyunsoo Rim

appy birthday

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The entrance of Allbirds seen from Hayes St. in San Francisco, Calif.

Allbirds, the once buzzy multibillion-dollar sneaker startup, is selling up for $39 million

That’s less than 1% of its peak market cap about four years ago.

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JetBlue is raising its bag fees as fuel costs squeeze airlines

JetBlue will reportedly hike its bag fees, as the cost of jet fuel continues to climb amid the war in Iran. It’s the latest example of carriers finding ways to push rising costs onto travelers.

Last week, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said that if fuel prices remain elevated, fares would need to rise another 20% for his airline to break even this year.

As CNBC reported, when one airline raises fees, others tend to follow.

Earlier this month, JetBlue hiked its first-quarter outlook for operating revenue per seat mile to between 5% and 7%, saying that strong Q1 demand helped “partially offset additional expenses realized from operational disruptions and rising fuel costs.” Now, the carrier appears to be making moves to further boost revenue to offset those costs.

Earlier on Monday, JetBlue rival Alaska Air lowered its Q1 profit forecast. The refining margins for the carrier’s cheapest fuel option — sourced from Singapore and representing about 20% of Alaska’s overall supply — have spiked 400% since February.

JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.