Amazon expands corporate layoffs to 18,000 jobs

The company’s CEO, Andy Jassy, ​​said Amazon plans to cut 18,000 corporate and technology jobs in a major expansion of its cost-cutting plans. Send an email to the staff Wednesday.

company It previously planned to lay off nearly 10,000 employees Late last year and early this year, The New York Times reported in mid-November. The first layoffs centered primarily on the company’s hardware and book organizations. Offers were also made to employees in the field of human resources to resign.

The new wave of layoffs will begin on January 18th, Mr. Jassy said, and will focus on human resources as well as the large department that Amazon refers to as stores. This includes the teams behind Amazon’s main website, its extensive field and warehouse operations, its physical stores, and other consumer teams.

The 18,000 total cuts represent nearly 6 percent of Amazon’s workforce. Late last year, managers in a variety of groups said they were being told to prepare for potential layoffs, and employees were preparing for cutbacks.

Hourly warehouse workers are not included in the layoffs. Amazon usually underestimates these jobs through high attrition.

“These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure,” wrote Mr. Jassy. “However, I’m also optimistic that we’ll be creative, resourceful and grounded in this time when we’re not hiring extensively and cutting out some roles.”

The company more than doubled its workforce during the pandemic as customers flocked to the online services. It had about 1.5 million employees at the end of September.

Amazon’s growth, however, slowed down to its lowest rate in two decades, and Mr. Jassy was reeling from the company’s over-expansion. Amazon recently warned investors about this It can impair growth to the slowest pace since 2001.

Mr. Jassy said the extended cuts were a result of Amazon’s annual business review, which this year was “more challenging given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired quickly over the past several years.”

The Wall Street Journal mentioned Earlier Wednesday that Amazon had expanded its planned job cuts.

Amazon is among a number of technology companies that have recently announced deep discounts. Salesforce, the business software giant, said Wednesday that it plans to lay off 10 percent of its workforce, or about 8,000 employees, amid concerns about the economy. Other companies, including Meta and Twitter, have seen significant layoffs in recent months.