Amazon Layoffs to Affect 18,000 Employees, CEO Confirms
Amazon’s ongoing layoffs is set to impact more than 18,000 workers, according to CEO Andy Jassy in a note released on Wednesday.
The “majority” of the cuts will be in Amazon Stores and People, Experience, and Technology organizations. “Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles,” Jassy said in his memo, which was shared publicly after the Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the expanded layoffs. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure; however, I’m also optimistic that we’ll be inventive, resourceful, and scrappy in this time when we’re not hiring expansively and eliminating some roles.”
Employees affected by the layoffs will be contacted beginning on Jan. 18. However, Amazon has already admitted it was consolidating “some teams and programs” in its hardware and services division, as SVP Dave Limp stated in a November email, The Verge reported. Jassy also told employees that there would be “more role reductions as leaders continue to make adjustments” in 2023, but the extent of those layoffs were not confirmed until now.
The layoffs amount to six percent of Amazon’s roughly 300,000-person corporate workforce, according to Reuters, while the company has over 1.5 million workers including warehouse staff.
Jassy also said that this year’s review “has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years.” The company recently planned to double its base pay ceiling to $350,000 to compete for U.S. employees, and increase the overall compensation range for most jobs globally.
In his note, Jassy wrote, “Amazon has weathered uncertainty and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so.”
