Amazon planning to sublease warehouses amid online shopping slowdown
Amazon plans to sublease at least 10 million square feet of warehouse capacity
Amazon will sublease some of its warehouses as sales have fallen off from the high levels the company registered at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spokeswoman Alisa Carroll said subleasing allows the company to "relieve the financial obligations associated with an existing building" that no longer meets its needs.
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According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon plans to sublease at least 10 million square feet of warehouse capacity and is looking at options to end or renegotiate more of its leases.
The extra space includes facilities in New York, New Jersey, California and Georgia, Bloomberg News reported.
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The move to cut excess space comes after the company suffered its first quarterly loss in seven years. Amazon reported a drop in demand in April, which hurt its warehouse operations, after about two years of soaring growth fueled by the pandemic.
Amazon added warehouses and workers during the pandemic, to keep up with the increased demand from online shoppers, after the company doubled the size of its operations. But as the world transitioned into post-pandemic life, the company noticed it had too much warehouse space and too many workers.
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"Subleasing is something many established corporations do to help manage their real estate portfolio," Carroll said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
