Amazon announces layoff of 9,000 employees

Online retailer Amazon will cut around 9,000 jobs, announced CEO Andy Jassy. The reductions will primarily affect the structure of the AWS cloud platform, the People, Experience and Technology (PXT) division that deals with human resources, as well as the advertising department and the Twitch unit. The layoffs, according to Jassy, will begin in the coming weeks.

Amazon began mass layoffs in November last year. At that time, the company eliminated about 10,000 jobs as part of measures to abandon unprofitable or inefficient divisions. The reductions affected departments dealing with the development of devices (including the voice assistant Alexa), human resources, and retail.

Then, last January, Jassy said that the company intends to cut another 18,000 jobs in stores and HR departments.

The layoffs followed a massive hiring spree by Amazon during the coronavirus pandemic, CNBC writes. By the end of 2021, the total number of company employees in units around the world had grown to over 1.6 million people compared to 798,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019, the channel reports.

Furthermore, the reductions were related to a sharp increase in expenses and a slowdown in sales growth. By last November, Amazon’s market capitalization had fallen 42% since the beginning of the year, to about $1 trillion. Investors were also concerned about a drop in consumer spending and Amazon’s loss of logistical capabilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.