- Kyle Chua
Amazon Laying Off 9,000 Workers in Coming Weeks, Potentially Affecting Twitch, Cloud Services
Amazon is expected to eliminate more jobs in the coming weeks amid fears of an "uncertain economy".
The online retail giant plans to lay off over 9,000 workers by the end of April, according to an internal memo sent out by CEO Andy Jassy, adding to the 18,000 that have been let go since November. The latest round of layoffs would affect live streaming platform Twitch and cloud computing divisions like Amazon Web Services. Previous rounds were centred around retail and human resources divisions.
Jassy did, however, note that the layoffs won't be finalised until sometime between mid-to-late April, so workers won't know yet if they would be affected until that time.
"Given the uncertain economy in which we reside, and the uncertainty that exists in the near future, we have chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount," said Jassy. The decision is also part of Amazon's "second phase" of overhauling operations to cut more costs. The company promises to provide severance pay, transitional health insurance coverage and job support to those who would be affected by the cuts.
Similar to other high-profile tech giants, Amazon went on an unprecedented hiring spree during the pandemic to meet growing demand. But with today's economy being very much different from what it was a few years ago, the decision is supposedly only making it harder for the online retailer to turn a profit while continuing to invest in new customer experiences.
"To those ultimately impacted by these reductions, I want to thank you for the work you have done on behalf of customers and the company," said Jassy. "It’s never easy to say goodbye to our teammates, and you will be missed."
Earlier this month, Meta also announced it was initiating another round of layoffs, on top of the 11,000 workers it sacked in November last year. Meta's decision was said to have been motivated by hitting financial targets and is not part of the Facebook parent company's wider efforts to flatten its organisational structure.
Amazon plans to lay off over 9,000 workers by the end of April, according to an internal memo sent out by CEO Andy Jassy, adding to the 18,000 that have been let go since November.
The latest round of layoffs would affect live streaming platform Twitch and cloud computing divisions like Amazon Web Services.
Jassy cited an "uncertain economy" and the desire to streamline costs and headcount for the latest round of layoffs.