As it fights to slash expenses, Amazon expects to eliminate more than 18,000 workers, the most ever in the history of the company.
The online giant, which employs 1.5 million people worldwide, did not specify which nations will be affected by the job losses but did mention that Europe would be one of them.
The company’s consumer retail business and human resources section will be where the majority of job losses occur.
Boss Andy Jassy blamed the cuts on the “uncertain economy,” claiming that the company has “hired quickly over several years.”
“We don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted,” he said in a memo to staff.
He said the announcement had been brought forward due to one of the firm’s employees leaking the cuts externally.
“Companies that last a long time go through different phases. They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year,” he added.
After experiencing a commercial boom during the pandemic, when customers were stranded at home and spent a lot online, Amazon has seen sales decrease.
Tech companies are being hard impacted by a potent confluence of falling advertising income as a result of corporations cutting costs and consumers cutting down on spending as the cost of living issue bites.
Both Salesforce, a provider of cloud-based commercial software, and Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, have lately announced significant layoffs.
Amazon has already announced that it’s cutting back on projects like the Echo (better known as Alexa) and delivery robots – which were nice-to-haves but not actually making money.
