Just days after closing an $8 billion credit agreement, Amazon is the latest company to announce major layoffs affecting thousands of workers.
in a statement on Amazon site (Opens in a new tab)CEO Andy Jassy explained that one of his teammates had leaked information regarding the cuts, forcing the decision to publicly announce that a total of 18,000 jobs would be cut, without “talking first”.[ing] with directly affected persons,” leading to further speculation about uncertainty within the company.
Including cutting a number of positions in the Hardware and Books division in November 2021, and offering voluntary reduction in Personnel, Experience and Technology (PXT), another large-scale layoff will see the company’s total headcount drop by 18,000 in recent months.
Cut 18,000 jobs at Amazon
PXT and Amazon Store workers are likely to be hardest hit, Jassy cautioned, but the company has refrained from making any official decisions until January 18, 2023, when it will reach out to the relevant employees and representative bodies for European employees.
In an effort to soften the blow, Amazon has committed to offering separate payments, transitional health insurance benefits, and overseas employment support.
Jassy claims that “Amazon has survived difficult and uncertain economies in the past, and… [it] It will continue to do that.” He hopes the radical move will help the company continue to “find a way to do more for customers at a lower cost” so that the savings can be passed on to customers.
the Wall Street Journal (Opens in a new tab) Reports indicate that the total number of employees is about 1.5% of the 1.5 million employees of the company; A company that has recruited aggressively after experiencing massive success during the e-commerce boom in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
After an economic downturn that saw the company’s market value drop from a 2021 high of $1.88 trillion to a current value of $875 billion, the company has joined companies like Salesforce and Microsoft in major cuts.