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Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has announced a substantial round of layoffs, with an additional 9,000 employees set to lose their jobs. The news was shared in a memo published by CEO Andy Jassy today, revealing that the job cuts will impact workers in Amazon’s AWS cloud unit, Twitch gaming division, advertising, and PXT (experience and technology solutions) arm.
The decision to lay off thousands of employees is not new for Amazon. In fact, just a few months ago, the company announced 18,000 layoffs, with most of them coming from its PXT and Amazon Stores businesses. It’s worth noting that the previous figure was said to be around 10,000 people, but Amazon never confirmed it when it was first reported back in November.
This latest wave of layoffs reflects Amazon’s gradual approach to reducing its headcount. As Jassy mentioned in his memo, the company is taking a staggered approach to its headcount reduction efforts, rather than implementing one large layoff. This approach allows Amazon to carefully consider the impact of each round of job cuts on its employees and the business as a whole.
It’s no secret that Amazon has been under pressure to cut costs and increase profitability. The company has faced criticism in the past for its treatment of warehouse workers and the impact of its business practices on small businesses. However, Jassy’s memo makes it clear that the layoffs are not just about cost-cutting. He stated that Amazon is making changes to its organization, including eliminating some roles and consolidating teams, to better align with the company’s long-term strategy.
Despite the layoffs, Amazon remains a powerful force in the tech industry. The company’s AWS cloud unit continues to grow, and Amazon’s overall revenue has been steadily increasing over the past few years. However, the recent job cuts are a reminder that even the largest and most successful companies are not immune to change and uncertainty.
In summary, Amazon’s decision to lay off 9,000 employees in its AWS cloud unit, Twitch gaming division, advertising, and PXT arm is part of the company’s gradual approach to reducing its headcount. While the layoffs are driven, in part, by the need to cut costs, they are also intended to align with Amazon’s long-term strategy. Despite the job cuts, Amazon remains a dominant player in the tech industry, and the company’s continued success will be closely watched in the months and years to come.
Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, recently announced that the company will be cutting jobs across various teams. Although Amazon is one of the world’s largest employers, with around 1.5 million employees globally, Jassy has indicated that they will take their time with the layoffs, and people will be informed once each team has completed their analysis.
It’s worth noting that Amazon has significantly more employees than Google’s parent company, Alphabet, which laid off around 12,000 workers just a couple of months ago. Despite this, Amazon has not yet concluded which specific roles will be impacted by the cutbacks.
According to Jassy, some may wonder why the company didn’t announce the role reductions when they made the previous announcement a couple of months ago. Jassy explained that not all of the teams had finished their analyses at that time, and the company did not want to rush through the assessments without appropriate diligence.
The same is true for the current situation, as the impacted teams are still making final decisions on which roles will be affected. The company aims to have this process completed by mid to late April, after which they will communicate with the impacted employees, or employee representative bodies where applicable in Europe.
At first glance, it may seem surprising that Amazon’s highly profitable AWS has been affected by layoffs. However, while AWS is still doing well, its growth rate has slowed down recently, which is in line with a broader trend of reduced spending on cloud infrastructure due to cost-cutting measures during the economic downturn. This means that companies are spending less on cloud computing, even though AWS remains a highly profitable entity for Amazon.
Microsoft’s Azure cloud division, which is gaining ground on AWS, also announced a round of layoffs in January, including some 150 Azure employees. While Amazon did not previously confirm that AWS was affected by the January layoffs, some outlets reported that some of the layoffs were from that unit.
Today’s announcement officially confirms that Amazon is downsizing one of its biggest revenue generators in recent times. Amazon is now the second of the so-called “big 5” tech companies to announce two separate rounds of layoffs, following Meta’s parent company Facebook, which revealed another 10,000 job cuts last week.
What impact do you think Amazon’s decision to cut around 9,000 jobs in its AWS, Twitch, and other departments will have on the affected employees and the company’s reputation as a whole? Share you opinion in the comments below.
