Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your midday brief for Wednesday, January 28th. I'm Alex Osola for The Wall Street Journal. Amazon says it's cutting around 16,000 corporate jobs, bringing the company's total corporate layoff since October to about 30,000. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has portrayed the cuts as an attempt to reinvigorate the company's culture rather than to cut costs.
Starbucks reported 4% growth in U.S. same-store sales in the most recent quarter, the strongest showing since late 2023. The company says its turnaround efforts are behind the growth as more customers go to its cafes.
But profits declined 62% for the quarter due to tariffs on coffee and investments in the workforce. And two federal immigration officials fired shots at 37-year-old Alex Preddy during a fatal encounter in Minneapolis on Saturday. A Department of Homeland Security report says the shooting occurred after a struggle when officers attempted to move Preddy out of a road.
Chapter 2: What are the reasons behind Amazon's decision to lay off 16,000 corporate workers?
The report doesn't say how many shots were fired or which shots killed Preddy, but noted that a county medical examiner would conduct an autopsy. Heads Up, an artificial intelligence tool, helped us make this episode by creating summaries that were based on WSJ reporting and then reviewed and adapted by an editor. We'll have more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's What's News podcast.
You can add it to your playlist on your smart speaker or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.