Consumer Discretionary Distribution & Retail

Amazon.com Inc. has reportedly laid off fewer than 1,000 positions across multiple business units, with employees reporting cuts affecting teams in the U.S., India, and the U.K. Workers said Tuesday they received emails notifying them that their positions had been eliminated, Business Insider reported on Wednesday, with messages shared in an internal Slack channel with almost 37,000 members indicating the reductions reached customer service, marketplace support and engineering roles within Amazon's retail operations. Amazon told the publication that it eliminated a small number of roles, primarily in its Stores business, as part of a restructuring aimed at moving faster and supporting its priorities, and said it would support affected employees through the transition. The latest cuts follow a much larger restructuring announced in January, when Amazon confirmed approximately 16,000 job reductions across the company, adding to the 14,000 corporate job cuts announced in October 2025 and bringing total planned reductions to about 30,000 roles, or roughly 1% of its 1.56 million workforce, affecting AWS, retail, Prime Video, and the People Experience and Technology unit. Last month, Amazon was reportedly seeking former employees, including some previously laid off, for artificial intelligence and cloud-computing positions through its AI agent organization, led by AWS Vice President Swami Sivasubramanian, which launched a "Swami's Boomerang Reengagement Initiative" to reconnect with former workers specializing in AI and machine learning.

A string of large-scale personal data leaks caused by unauthorized access is continuing. Book Off Group Holdings announced on the 9th that up to about 6.43 million pieces of member data were leaked as a result of unauthorized access, and Daiichikosho, which operates the karaoke chain Big Echo, also disclosed that roughly 8.72 million pieces of personal information may have been leaked. In both cases, the leaked information includes members' and customers' names, dates of birth, email addresses and phone numbers, and both companies said that as of the time of their announcements no misuse of the information by third parties had been confirmed, urging affected individuals to be wary of suspicious emails and phone calls. At Book Off, a subsidiary that manages member information was breached, while at Daiichikosho the system of an outsourcing contractor handling personal data management was hit by unauthorized access. Both companies commented, "We deeply apologize for causing our customers enormous worry and inconvenience," and are hurrying to implement measures to prevent a recurrence.

Large-scale leaks of personal information caused by unauthorized access are occurring one after another. Bookoff Group Holdings announced on the 9th that up to about 6.43 million member records may have leaked due to unauthorized access, and Daiichikosho, which operates the karaoke chain Big Echo, also disclosed that roughly 8.72 million pieces of personal information may have been leaked. In both cases, the leaked information includes members' and customers' names, dates of birth, email addresses, and phone numbers, and both companies said that as of the time of their announcements no misuse by third parties had been confirmed, urging affected individuals to be wary of suspicious emails and phone calls. At Bookoff, a subsidiary that manages member information was affected, while at Daiichikosho, a system operated by an outsourcing contractor handling personal information was hit by the unauthorized access. Both companies commented, "We deeply apologize for causing our customers enormous worry and inconvenience," and are hurrying to implement measures to prevent a recurrence.

Shidai Wanheng hit the daily limit-up again on October 9, closing at 11.76 yuan per share with a total market value of about 3.5 billion yuan, marking the fifth consecutive trading day of limit-up gains. The company issued a stock trading risk warning announcement in the evening, saying that short-term share price volatility is relatively large, and there may be irrational speculation, with the risk of a rapid pullback after a sharp rise. The announcement said the company's main business is the research, development, production and sales of new energy batteries, involving two parts: lithium-ion batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries. The lithium battery products are small-power cylindrical ternary lithium batteries, mainly used in the small power tool sector, with the 1865 and 1450 models as the main products. The nickel-metal hydride battery products are mainly used in personal care, consumer goods, power tools and other fields. The company's products are not involved in solid-state batteries. Financial data shows that in 2025 the company achieved operating revenue of 383 million yuan, down 4.39 percent year on year, and a net loss attributable to the parent company of 132 million yuan, compared with a profit of 19.3829 million yuan in the same period last year, turning from profit to loss. In the first half of this year, the net loss attributable to the parent company was 12.4599 million yuan, also turning from profit to loss year on year. That evening, several other stocks also issued announcements on abnormal share price movements. Shanghai Xiba, which had three limit-ups in four trading days, said its solid-state battery related business has not yet formed long-term stable large-scale revenue. In the first half of 2026, revenue from its new energy advanced materials business was 13.3737 million yuan, accounting for 5.72 percent of total revenue. Hongdou Shares, which had two consecutive limit-ups, said its daily operating activities are normal, and it recorded a net loss of 94.394 million yuan in the first half of 2026.