Amazon Layoffs to Affect 18,000 Employees, CEO Confirms

Amazon’s ongoing layoffs is set to impact more than 18,000 workers, according to CEO Andy Jassy in a note on Wednesday.

The “majority” of the cuts will be in Amazon Stores and People, Experience, and Technology organizations. “This year’s review is more difficult due to the fact that the economy remains in a challenging spot and we’ve hired rapidly the last several years.,” Jassy said in his memo, which was shared publicly after the Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the expanded layoffs.

Employees affected by the layoffs will be contacted beginning on Jan. 18. However, Amazon has already admitted it was consolidating “some teams and programs” in its hardware and services division, as SVP Dave Limp stated in a November email, The Verge reported. Jassy also told employees that there would be “more role reductions as leaders continue to make adjustments” in 2023, but the extent of those layoffs were not confirmed until now.

The layoffs amount to six percent of Amazon’s roughly 300,000-person corporate workforce, according to Reuters, while the company has over 1.5 million workers including warehouse staff.

Jassy also said that this year’s review was “more difficult due to the fact that the economy remains in a challenging spot and we’ve hired rapidly the last several years.” The company recently planned to double its base pay ceiling to $350,000 to compete for U.S. employees, and increase the overall compensation range for most jobs globally.

In his note, Jassy wrote, “Amazon has weathered uncertainty and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so.”