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By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning on Tuesday, as the company works to pare expenses and compensate for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter. The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since around 27,000 jobs were eliminated starting in late 2022.  An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment. Amazon has been trimming smaller numbers of jobs over the past two years across multiple divisions, including devices, communications, podcasting and others. The cuts beginning this week may impact a variety of divisions within Amazon, including human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, devices and services and operations, among others, the people said. Managers of impacted teams were asked to undergo training on Monday for how to communicate with staff following notifications that will start going out via email on Tuesday morning, the people said. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is undertaking an initiative to reduce what he has described as an excess of bureaucracy at the company, including by reducing the number of managers. He installed an anonymous complaint line for identifying inefficiencies that has elicited some 1,500 responses and over 450 process changes, he said earlier this year. Jassy said in June that the increased use of artificial intelligence tools would likely lead to further job cuts, particularly through automating repetitive and routine tasks. The full scope of this round of job cuts was not immediately clear. The people familiar with the matter said the number could change over time, as Amazon's financial priorities shift. Fortune earlier reported that the human resources division could be targeted with a cut of roughly 15%. Amazon shares were up 1.2% at $226.80 on Monday afternoon. The company plans to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday.  (Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning Tuesday, as the company works to pare expenses and compensate for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter. The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since around 27,000 jobs were eliminated starting in late 2022.  An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment. Amazon has been trimming smaller numbers of jobs over the past two years across multiple divisions, including devices, communications, podcasting and others. The cuts beginning this week may impact a variety of divisions within Amazon, including human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, devices and services and operations, among others, the people said. Managers of impacted teams were asked to undergo training on Monday for how to communicate with staff following notifications that will start going out via email tomorrow morning, the people said. Amazon shares were up 1.5% to $227.53. The company plans to report third quarter earnings on Thursday.  (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning Tuesday, as the company works to pare expenses and compensate for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter. The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since around 27,000 jobs were eliminated starting in late 2022.  An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment. Amazon has been trimming smaller numbers of jobs over the past two years across multiple divisions, including devices, communications, podcasting and others. The cuts beginning this week may impact a variety of divisions within Amazon, including human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, devices and services and operations, among others, the people said. Managers of impacted teams were asked to undergo training on Monday for how to communicate with staff following notifications that will start going out via email tomorrow morning, the people said. Amazon shares were up 1.5% to $227.53. The company plans to report third quarter earnings on Thursday.  (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

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By Milana Vinn -SAP, Europe's largest software provider, offered to buy accounting software firm BlackLine for nearly $4.5 billion in June but was rebuffed and is now considering whether to pursue the company again, according to a copy of the offer letter reviewed by Reuters and a person familiar with the matter.   The German software giant, which is working with JPMorgan on the deal, submitted a formal, non-public offer of $66 per share on June 18, but BlackLine wasn't interested in a deal and rejected the advance, according to the letter and person familiar with the talks. The offer represented a 31% premium to the 60-day average price of $50.50. In the offer letter, SAP said it doesn't need outside financing to close the deal.   Private equity firm Clearlake Capital holds nearly 9% of BlackLine's shares and would have a say in a potential sale as a large shareholder. The Vanguard Group and BlackRock are other top shareholders through their fund families.  SAP is now weighing whether it wants to reopen negotiations, although nothing's been decided and it hasn't sent another formal offer, according to the person familiar with the matter. They asked not to be identified since the discussions are private. SAP and JPMorgan declined to comment. BlackLine, Morgan Stanley and Clearlake did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Editing by Dawn Kopecki; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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(Reuters) -Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has appointed insider Vishal Shah to a key artificial intelligence-linked role, heading product management for AI products, the social media giant said on Monday. The move underscores Big Tech's focus on the booming technology, directing resources and top talent towards AI development. Meta is competing against Microsoft and startups such as OpenAI and Anthropic to build the most sophisticated AI models. Shah was in charge of product management for Instagram at Meta for over six years, before becoming vice president of Metaverse — the company's concept for a three-dimensional virtual world — in 2021. The development was first reported by the Financial Times earlier on Monday, citing an internal memo. Shah will report to Meta's head of AI product, Nat Friedman, according to the report. A spokesperson for Meta confirmed Shah's new role but declined to comment on details regarding the appointment when contacted by Reuters.  This marks another reshuffle for Meta's management, after the company last week announced it was cutting around 600 roles in its Superintelligence Labs unit, as it looks to make its AI unit more flexible and responsive. (Reporting by Anhata Rooprai and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru and Echo Wang in New York; Editing by Alan Barona)

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(Reuters) -Social media giant Meta launched on Monday posts that are automatically archived 24 hours after being uploaded, dubbed "ghost posts," on its Threads app, mimicking a popular feature available on its other platforms. The feature is aimed at boosting usage, expanding options for users to share posts on the app, similar to the widely used "stories" employed across Meta's Instagram and Facebook. Any replies to ghost posts will be sent to users' messaging inboxes, not allowing other users to see who has liked and replied. "You can share unfiltered thoughts and fresh takes without the pressure of permanence or polish," Meta said. Users can create this type of post by toggling the ghost icon in the post creation menu, and the posts will appear as a grayed-out dotted chat bubble in their feed to distinguish them from regular posts. Threads was launched in 2023 as a competitor to Elon Musk's X. As of August, Threads had 400 million active users. (Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

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(Reuters) -London Stock Exchange Group on Monday said it is collaborating with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic to give Claude users access to data licensed through LSEG products. LSEG shares rose by as much as 1.7% after the announcement. The company said Workspace and Financial Analytics will be accessible through Anthropic's expanded Claude for Financial Services offering, allowing customers to automate financial analysis. "With LSEG's trusted data, Claude is able to summarize earnings calls, scan diligence materials, trigger agentic workflows and surface instant market signals – all with enterprise-grade controls," Nicholas Lin, head of product, financial services at Anthropic, said. Reuters provides news for LSEG's Workspace product. (Reporting by Shanima A in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -London Stock Exchange Group on Monday said it is collaborating with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic to give Claude users access to data licensed through LSEG products. LSEG shares rose by as much as 1.7% after the announcement. The company said Workspace and Financial Analytics will be accessible through Anthropic's expanded Claude for Financial Services offering, allowing customers to automate financial analysis. "With LSEG's trusted data, Claude is able to summarize earnings calls, scan diligence materials, trigger agentic workflows and surface instant market signals – all with enterprise-grade controls," Nicholas Lin, head of product, financial services at Anthropic, said. Reuters provides news for LSEG's Workspace product. (Reporting by Shanima A in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -Social media giant Meta launched on Monday posts that are automatically archived 24 hours after being uploaded, dubbed "ghost posts," on its Threads app, mimicking a popular feature available on its other platforms. The feature is aimed at boosting usage, expanding options for users to share posts on the app, similar to the widely used "stories" employed across Meta's Instagram and Facebook. Any replies to ghost posts will be sent to users' messaging inboxes, not allowing other users to see who has liked and replied. "You can share unfiltered thoughts and fresh takes without the pressure of permanence or polish," Meta said. Users can create this type of post by toggling the ghost icon in the post creation menu, and the posts will appear as a grayed-out dotted chat bubble in their feed to distinguish them from regular posts. Threads was launched in 2023 as a competitor to Elon Musk's X. As of August, Threads had 400 million active users. (Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Yousef Saba RIYADH (Reuters) -SandboxAQ, a U.S.-based artificial intelligence and quantum technology firm, signed an agreement with Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund on Monday aimed at speeding up the development of drugs and creating biotech assets worth $1 billion. The deal, announced on the sidelines of Saudi Arabia's flagship investment conference, the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, will see Bahrain's Mumtalakat license SandboxAQ's large quantitative models trained on physics, chemistry and biology to accelerate drug discovery and scientific research. "The collaboration will help position Bahrain as a regional biotech hub, with a joint research committee guiding a three-year program aimed at developing valuable new drugs," they said in a statement. SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary told Reuters the partnership would empower Bahrain to create and own intellectual property in biotech, including therapies targeting diseases prevalent in the region such as diabetes and certain genetic disorders. "Traditionally, the majority of biotech IP is owned in a handful of countries. This enables Bahrain to develop its own assets, focused both on regional and global health priorities," Hidary said. The agreement will use Bahrain's digital health datasets and hospital infrastructure to develop therapies. Clinical trials are expected to begin in Bahrain, with potential for multi-site studies, Hidary added. He added that SandboxAQ was receiving interest from other countries, including in the Gulf, for similar partnerships. In January, Saudi oil giant Aramco signed an agreement with SandboxAQ to use its models to increase the value of downstream products. (Reporting by Yousef SabaEditing by Mark Potter)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)