Amazon, the Seattle-based giant e-commerce company, will lay off around 9,000 employees, shedding some jobs just weeks after it was reported that the company had laid off approximately 18,000 workers on Monday.
Andy Jassy, the CEO of the firm with a corporate workforce of 282,000 employees, circulated a memo announcing the latest layoffs, which will have a 3% impact on the trillion-dollar company.
“This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term,” Jassy wrote in the memo.
Amazon Web Services, along with its People experience and Technology unit (PXT), its advertising department, and its Twitch live video streaming division, will be impacted by the majority of the reductions, as stated by Jassy to the employees.
The tech industry leaders, such as Amazon, Google, Meta, Twitter, and Microsoft, have been forced to lay off tens of thousands of employees in recent months due to a decrease in revenue and the negative impact of rising inflation and high interest rates on the overall economy.
Jassy said that the company had added a significant amount of staff in the past few years, but the uncertain economy has forced it to choose cuts in headcount and cost.
Jassy stated, “We have chosen to streamline headcount and costs in the near future to address the uncertainty that exists in the uncertain economy in which we reside.”
The removal occurs just a few weeks after the company announced that it was ceasing the construction of its widely promoted second primary headquarters in Virginia.
Shares of Amazon fell by more than 1.5% on Monday. In the last year, Amazon’s stock has lost 40% of its value.
Jassy stated that the layoffs were designed with the intention of making Amazon a leaner “company, enabling us to robustly invest in key, long-term customer experiences, which ultimately improves both Amazon as a whole and customers’ lives meaningfully.”
The chief of Amazon said that decisions to reprioritize sometimes led to role reductions, and the firm evaluated what customers care about most as a result.
Jassy wrote, “Certain individuals might question why we did not reveal these job reductions at the same time as the ones we made public a few months ago.”
“The brief response is that not all of the teams had completed their analyses in the late autumn…”
Jassy stated that the management teams at Amazon conducted their “proper diligence” in deciding which positions to eliminate.
On behalf of the company and customers, I want to thank you for the work you have done, which ultimately impacted those reductions.
“Saying farewell to our colleagues is always a difficult task, and your absence will be felt.”