After laying off 18,000 employees in January, tech giant Amazon announced a second round of staff layoffs this year, eliminating 9,000 jobs in the coming weeks..In a memo sent to staff Monday, CEO Andy Jassy wrote: “As we’ve just concluded the second phase of our operating plan (“OP2”) this past week, I’m writing to share that we intend to eliminate about 9,000 more positions in the next few weeks — mostly in AWS (Amazon Web Services), PXT (Personal Experience), Advertising, and Twitch. This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term.”.“For several years leading up to this one, most of our businesses added a significant amount of headcount. This made sense given what was happening in our businesses and the economy as a whole. However, 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.”.As was the case for most high-tech companies, Amazon grew rapidly during the pandemic as people increased their home shopping habits and use of the internet for entertainment and other services. The company is only the latest in the high-tech sector to reduce staff as lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions were lifted..Last week Meta, Facebook’s parent company, said it planned layoffs of 10,000 workers in addition to 11,000 cuts late last year..Jassy included in his memo:.“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; and rather than rush through these assessments without the appropriate diligence, we chose to share these decisions as we’ve made them, so people had the information as soon as possible.”.“The same is true for this note as the impacted teams are not yet finished making final decisions on precisely which roles will be impacted. Once those decisions have been made (our goal is to have this complete by mid to late April), we will communicate with the impacted employees or, where applicable in Europe, with employee representative bodies. We will, of course, support those we have to let go, and will provide packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.”.“The culling comes just weeks after the company announced it was pausing construction on its much-touted second headquarters in Virginia,” reports The New York Post. “Shares of Amazon fell by more than 1.5% on Monday. In the last year, Amazon’s stock lost 40% of its value.”.Amazon’s latest earnings report shows net income fell by US$300 million in the fourth quarter of last year, with the company showing a net loss of US$2.7 billion in 2022..Other than in job losses happening in Europe, Jassy did not indicate where other cuts would take place.
