In a statement, the CEO of Amazon stated that the previously mentioned annual planning process was not yet complete and that “I expected there would be more role reductions in early 2023.”
San Francisco: Amazon confirmed on Thursday that it will lay off approximately 18,000 employees, affecting several teams, particularly Amazon Stores and People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) organisations.
The Amazon CEO said in a statement that they were not done with the annual planning process as earlier mentioned, and “I expected there would be more role reductions in early 2023”.
“We typically wait to communicate about these outcomes until we can speak with the people who are directly impacted. However, because one of our teammates leaked this information externally, we decided it was better to share this news sooner so you could hear the details directly from me,” Jassy explained.
“We intend to begin communicating with impacted employees (or, in Europe, with employee representative bodies) on January 18,” he added.
In November, it was reported that the e-commerce behemoth planned to lay off 10,000 A employees.
In September 2022, the company stated that it had approximately 1.5 million employees.
Amazon previously admitted to consolidating “some teams and programmes” in its hardware and services division, and Jassy previously informed employees that “more role reductions will occur as leaders continue to make adjustments” in 2023.
This makes Amazon’s cut one of the largest from a tech behemoth to date.
Last year, Meta announced the layoff of approximately 11,000 employees, while chipmaker Intel announced significant cuts throughout the year.
Google also intends to lay off a large number of employees in early 2023.
Amazon, according to Jassy, has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
These changes will allow us to pursue long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure; however, I’m also optimistic that we’ll be inventive, resourceful, and scrappy during this period when we’re not hiring broadly and eliminating some roles,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
He stated that the company is working to assist those affected by providing packages such as a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement assistance.
