Expedia layoffs; Amazon grocery store; tech workers’ salaries

Here’s what we’re talking about this week on the GeekWire Podcast.

In a surprise move, Seattle-based travel site Expedia laid off about 12 percent of its workforce this week, including 500 people in Seattle. Chairman Barry Diller had called the company a “bloated organization” on a recent earnings call. It sounds like he is cracking down and wants more focus, more profit and less wasted effort.

• Expedia cuts 3,000 jobs, including 500 at new Seattle HQ — read the internal email to employees

Amazon opened a new grocery store in Seattle this week but … there was something missing. We take a look at Amazon Go Grocery, which builds on the company’s chain of Amazon Go convenience stores. This store has more food, and even grocery carts, but you still won’t find a checkout line.

• Inside ‘Amazon Go Grocery’: Tech giant opens first full-sized store without cashiers or checkout lines

A new salary survey from the federal Labor Department finds that Seattle-area tech workers are making an average annualized salary of almost $280,000 a year. That figure blows past other professions in the Seattle region and is even outpacing the benchmark for hefty salaries, financial workers in New York City.

• Seattle-area tech workers earn $279K/year on average in total compensation, according to new BLS data

With GeekWire’s Todd Bishop, Monica Nickelsburg and Kurt Schlosser. Audio editing and production by Curt Milton. Music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell.

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