After days of making headlines, Amazon layoffs have reportedly finally hit the workers of the Jeff Bezos-led company. In what is being touted as the largest job cuts in its history, this round of Amazon layoffs is reportedly affecting workers in the US, Canada and Costa Rica.
According to a report in Bloomberg, as of Wednesday, Amazon plans to axe as many as 18,000 people. These layoffs come at a time when the Jeff Bezos-led company tries to grapple with slowing online sales growth and prepares itself to face a possible recession as the world economy takes a hit.
The report adds that this round of Amazon layoffs is also most likely expected to affect the retail and human resources (HR) division of the company. Before this, when Amazon layoffs happened last year, they initially impacted the company’s devices and services group, one that builds Alexa digital assistant and Eco smart speakers.
In an open letter to employees earlier this month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy also wrote, “Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so......These changes will help us puruse our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”
Amazon layoffs come as a part of the recent trend of tech layoffs and/or mass layoffs. Several other companies following the same include Microsoft, Facebook parent Meta, Twitter, Salesforce and so on. All the companies are reportedly cutting jobs in order to roll back on their costs as market slows.
