Amazon.com now plans to lay off more than 18,000 employees as the eCommerce giant continues to cut costs, according to a public staff note shared by CEO Andy Jassy on Jan. 5.
Amazon will communicate the layoff decisions starting Jan. 18, Jassy said. The layoffs are concentrated in the company’s corporate ranks, according to The Wall Street Journal, with most cuts coming from Amazon stores and the company’s People, Experience and Technology (PXT) organizations.
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The 18,000 role eliminations — nearly double the 10,000 layoffs Amazon said it was targeting in November — represent 6% of Amazon’s roughly 300,000-member corporate team and 1.2% of its overall workforce of 1.5 million employees.
“Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” Jassy said. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure; however, I’m also optimistic that we’ll be inventive, resourceful, and scrappy in this time when we’re not hiring expansively and eliminating some roles.”
Jassy said Amazon is working with impacted staff to provide packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits and external job placement support.
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