Amazon plans to lay off 9,000 corporate and tech workers by the end of April
Amazon to lay off more 9,000 employees
Amazon will lay off another 9,000 workers in the coming weeks, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to employees Monday.
The cuts are on top of previously announced layoffs that began in November and stretched into January. This round included a total of more than 18,000 employees and primarily affected employees in the retail, facilities, recruiting and human resources groups.
Amazon has decided to lay off more employees as it tries to streamline costs. He took into account the economy as well as “the uncertainty that exists in the near future,” Jassy said. The company has just completed the second phase of its annual budget process, referred to internally as “OP2”.
“A key tenet of our annual planning this year has been to be leaner while doing so in a way that allows us to continue to invest heavily in key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve the lives of customers and Amazon as a whole. Jassy said.
The latest round will primarily impact Amazon’s cloud computing, human resources, advertising and live Twitch, Jassy said in a report.
Amazon is undergoing the biggest layoffs in the company’s history after it began hiring during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company’s global workforce has grown to more than 1.6 million by the end of 2021, up from 798,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Jassy is also undergoing a broad review of the company’s spending as it braces for an economic downturn and slowing growth in its core retail business. Amazon has frozen the hiring of its corporate employees, canceled some experimental projects and slowed the expansion of warehouses.
While the company wants to run leaner this year, Jassy said he remains optimistic about the “biggest businesses,” retail and Amazon Web Services, as well as other new divisions it continues to invest in.
Amazon shares were down more than 2% Monday afternoon.
