Amazon yesterday announced that it will be cutting 9,000 more jobs as it looks to streamline its operations and address economic uncertainty. This marks the second round of job cuts for the e-commerce giant and brings the total number of job losses to 27,000, or 9% of its corporate workforce of approximately 300,000 people. The latest cuts will focus on Amazon’s cloud and advertising divisions, as well as its streaming unit Twitch.
The decision comes amid a wave of layoffs in the technology sector, with some of the world’s most valuable companies, including Microsoft and Google, shedding large numbers of employees. Facebook‘s parent company Meta Platforms also recently announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs this year, following the elimination of over 11,000 roles in 2022.
According to D.A. Davidson analyst Tom Forte, the recession concerns have been the backdrop for Amazon’s decision. In a note to staff posted online, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy explained that the decision was based on an ongoing analysis of priorities and uncertainty about the economy.
“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,” Jassy wrote. “Some may ask why we didn’t announce these role reductions with the ones we announced a couple months ago. The short answer is that not all of the teams were done with their analyses in the late fall.”
Amazon has already scaled back or shut down some of its services in recent months, including its virtual primary care offering for employers, as it looks to address financial pressures from reduced consumer and cloud customer spending.
The latest job cuts are a remarkable turn for Amazon, which has long touted its job creation. However, the economic uncertainty has forced the company to make tough decisions to remain competitive in a rapidly changing market. While the job cuts are undoubtedly difficult for those affected, they may ultimately help Amazon to weather the economic storm and emerge stronger in the long run.
