Amazon Plans to Hike Base Salary Cap for US Employees to $350,000: Report

Amazon plans to more than double its base pay cap to $350,000 (roughly Rs. 2.6 crore), from its previous maximum salary of $160,000 (roughly Rs. 1.19 crore) for US employees, according to a company memo.

The e-commerce giant will increase the overall compensation range for most jobs globally and the company said the increases were much more "considerable" than in the past.

"This past year has seen a particularly competitive labor market," according to the memo, which added that there was a "need to remain competitive for attracting and retaining top talent".

Last year, Amazon increased its average starting wage for operations staff in the United States to more than $18 (roughly Rs. 1,340) an hour, against the backdrop of a tight US labour market.

Amazon will review the compensation for newly promoted employees at the time of promotion and give in-year stock awards, if required, to get them in the new pay range, the memo said.

The news was first reported by Insider.

Last week, Amazon reported the greatest ever one-day increase in value. Shares of the online retail and cloud computing giant surged 13.5 percent on February 4 following its blowout quarterly report, expanding its market capitalisation by around $190 billion (roughly Rs. 14,18,200 crore) by the end of trading.

That beat Apple's record $181 billion (roughly Rs. 13,51,000 crore) one-day gain in stock market value on January 28 following the iPhone maker's own blockbuster quarterly report, according to Refinitiv data.

Amazon is now valued at about $1.6 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,41,82060 crore). With Meta Platforms' stock slipping 0.3 percent on Friday, its value stood at about $660 billion (roughly Rs. 49,26,400 crore).

Amazon's shares jumped after the company reported better-than-expected profits late on Thursday and said it was hiking the price of its annual US Prime subscriptions by 17 percent.

Amazon's surge comes a day after Meta Platforms' stock market value plunged more than $200 billion (roughly Rs. 14,92,800 crore) in the biggest single-day loss for a US company after the social media giant issued a dismal forecast.

© Thomson Reuters 2022