According to data presented by BuyShares.co.uk and author Jastra Kranjec, Amazon, Alibaba, Alphabet, Facebook, and eBay, as the world's largest internet companies by the total workforce, hit more than 1.7 million employees, a massive 60% increase in a year.

Amazon created 500,000 new jobs amid the COVID-19 crisis

Kranjec said "Amazon has consistently topped the ranking as an online company with the biggest workforce, but the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the gap as eCommerce has boomed since then.

"While many companies were forced to cut jobs in face of the pandemic, the tech giant went on an unprecedented hiring spree in 2020. According to the company's data, the eCommerce behemoth created 500,000 new jobs last year, adding to its already sizeable workforce."

Kranjec continued: "With roughly 1.3 million employees across the globe, Amazon is only the second US company to employ more than a million people. The US retail giant Walmart currently employs 2.2 million people around the world.

"With such a staggering workforce and millions of customers worldwide, Amazon undoubtedly is a money machine. Last year, the company's revenue surged by 37% YoY to $386bn, and according to the report by CNBC, the online retailer generates more than $800,000 every minute."

Alibaba's workforce surged by 113% in a year

Kranjec added: "Alphabet, Google's parent company, ranked as the second-largest online company by the number of employees. In 2020, the tech giant reported over 135,000 full-time employees, 16,400 more than a year before.

"However, China's biggest eCommerce company, Alibaba Group, witnessed even more impressive workforce growth. Alibaba emerged as one of the country's biggest corporate winners of the COVID-19 crisis. The multinational tech giant gained the opportunity to expand its business significantly in 2020, as demand for its services and online marketplace traffic surged amid the lockdowns.

"The company's earnings report for the fiscal year 2021 revealed the eCommerce giant had more than 251,000 full-time employees in March, an impressive 113% increase in a year.

"Statistics also showed the number of active consumers across Alibaba's online shopping properties jumped by 11% YoY to 811 million in the first quarter of 2021, while the company's annual revenues grew by 40% YoY to over 717 million yuan.

"Facebook, ranked as the fourth-largest internet company based on the number of employees. The social media giant created 13,600 new jobs last year, with the total number of employees rising to 58,600.

"As the fifth-largest company on this list, PayPal increased its workforce by 14% in this period and hit 26,500 employees globally."

Additional information and graphs are available at the BuyShares.co.uk article here.