Amazon said Wednesday that it would be cutting 16,000 jobs worldwide as part of a restructuring announced in October, when the e-commerce giant had already flagged plans to cut its workforce by 14,000 posts.

The jobs cuts are aimed at “reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy,” senior vice president Beth Galetti said in a statement.

Media reports from October had said the roughly 30,000 job cuts planned in total would impact nearly 10 percent of the 350,000 office jobs at Amazon, without affecting the distribution and warehouse workers that make up the bulk of its 1.5 million employees.

At the time the company refused to comment on the reports, which said they came amid increased investments in artificial intelligence.

Amazon did not give any breakdown of the latest job cuts on Wednesday, saying only that “every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate.”

The company will release its full-year 2025 results on February 6, when it will hold a conference call that will be broadcast live.

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Multi-Trex Integrated Foods Plc has secured approval from the Nigerian Exchange to take steps aimed at increasing its public shareholding, following a recapitalisation that left its free float below the Main Board requirement.

According to a statement signed by the Company Secretary, Sogunle Adekunle, on Wednesday, NGX Regulation Company granted the company a 24-month moratorium, ending 14 January 2028, to restore its free float to at least 20 per cent of issued share capital or a market capitalisation of 20bn, whichever is lower.

This extension provides the company with additional time to comply with regulatory requirements while implementing strategic plans to increase shareholder participation.

The recapitalisation, which followed a seven-year cessation of operations, involved Messrs N-Foods Universal Concept Limited injecting capital to settle obligations to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.

As a result, N-Foods Universal Concept Limited now controls 70 per cent of Multi-Trex’s issued share capital, leaving the company’s public free float at 7.23 per cent, valued at N117.46m, according to the 2024 audited financial statements.

In a statement to shareholders, the company emphasised its commitment to maintaining its listing on the NGX and assured investors that it is actively exploring strategies to increase the public free float.

The board warned that failure to meet the NGX threshold within the extension period could result in trading suspension or potential delisting of the company’s securities.

The statement read, “While this recapitalisation successfully stabilised the Company, it resulted in a contraction of the Company’s public free float. According to our 2024 Audited Financial Statements, our Company’s free float stood at 7.23% (with a value of N117,457,100.64). This is below the NGX Main Board requirement, which mandates a free float of either 20% of issued share capital or a market capitalisation of N20 billion.

“​In view of the above, the Company applied to the NGX for an extension of time to comply with the free float threshold. We are pleased to announce that the NGX Regulation Company (NGX RegCo) has conditionally granted the Company a 24-month moratorium, ending on January 14, 2028, to take the necessary steps to restore the free float to the required level.”

The management expressed appreciation to shareholders for their continued patience and support during the company’s recovery phase, highlighting the strategic measures undertaken to strengthen operations and compliance with market regulations.

Multi-Trex Integrated Foods’ NGX approval marks a milestone in its ongoing business recovery, giving the company a clear regulatory pathway to enhance public participation in its shareholding while ensuring compliance with market standards.

The national electricity grid experienced a voltage disturbance originating from the Gombe Transmission Substation on Tuesday morning, the Nigerian Independent System Operator has confirmed, clarifying that the event affected only part of the grid and did not result in a total collapse, contrary to some media reports.

In a statement titled “Update on Partial System Disturbance on the National Grid”, NISO said the incident occurred at approximately 10:48 a.m., rapidly propagating across the network and impacting the Jebba, Kainji and Ayede Transmission Substations.

It noted that the disturbance caused the tripping of some transmission lines and generating units, resulting in what the operator described as a partial system collapse.

Recall that PUNCH Online reported that the power grid crashed again on Tuesday, the second time in four days.

The power generation dropped to just 39 megawatts at 11 a.m., down from 3,825 MW as of 10 a.m.

Our team monitoring the situation reported that power generation had peaked at 4,762 MW as of 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

Also, EkoDisCo, in a statement on Tuesday, informed its customers of a system collapse that resulted in power loss.

This is the second grid collapse in January 2026 and the third in less than one month. The national grid previously collapsed on December 29, 2025, and more recently on Friday, January 23, 2026.

As the grid collapsed on Tuesday, load allocation to the distribution companies was 0.00 MW, indicating that no Disco was supplying electricity at the time of the incident.

Confirming the incident, the System Operator, which manages the transmission network and ensures stability across the country, attributed the prompt restoration to coordinated control room interventions and automated protection mechanisms embedded across the grid.

NISO said, “The Nigerian Independent System Operator wishes to state that at approximately 10:48 hours on January 27, 2026, the national grid experienced a voltage disturbance which originated from the Gombe Transmission Substation.

“The voltage disturbance rapidly propagated across the network, affecting Jebba, Kainji, and subsequently Ayede Transmission Substations. The event was accompanied by the tripping of some transmission lines and generating units, resulting in a partial system collapse.

“Appropriate corrective actions were immediately implemented to stabilise the system and restore normal operations. Restoration, which began at about 11:11 am, has since been completed. The incident only affected part of the grid; therefore, not a total collapse as reported by some media organisations. Additional information can be obtained from our website: www.niso.org.ng.

“The national grid has been fully restored, and electricity supply across the affected areas has since returned to normal.”

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