Amazon to cut 9,000 jobs in second round of layoffs

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Amazon.com Inc. said on Monday it would cut 9,000 jobs, making it the latest Big Tech company to announce a second round of layoffs in the face of a possible recession.

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Numerous tech giants including Microsoft Corp, Salesforce Inc, Alphabet and Meta Platforms have slashed thousands of jobs in recent months after pandemic-led hiring sprees left them overstaffed. Amazon follows Facebook-parent Meta in becoming the second bellwether to of announce a second r .

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CEO Andy Jassy said the company had added substantial amount of staff in the past few years, but the uncertain economy has forced it to choose cost and headcount cuts. The cuts will be concentrated in its cloud services, advertising and Twitch units.

“Given the uncertainty 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,” Jassy said in a statement posted on the company’s web site.

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Amazon last month said operating profit may continue to slump in the current quarter, hit by the financial impact of consumers and cloud customers clamping down on spending. Sales from its lucrative cloud-computing division slowed during the fourth quarter.

Amazon has scaled back or shut down entire services like its virtual primary care offering for employers.

Shares of Amazon were down 1.4 per cent in morning trading on the Nasdaq.

Facebook-parent Meta Platforms said it would cut 10,000 jobs this year, following the first mass layoff in the fall, which eliminated more than 11,000 jobs.

© Thomson Reuters 2023