Amazon.com Chief Executive Andy Jassy released a public note on Wednesday to inform his employees that the number of layoffs in the company has now been increased to more than 18,000 roles.
Also on Wednesday, Salesforce Inc said it planned to eliminate 8,000 roles, or roughly 10 percent of its present staff strength.
Among other recent major tech layoff was 11,000 cuts by Meta platforms.
Jassy blamed ‘uncertain economy” and the fact that the company had “hired rapidly” during the pandemic as the main reasons, adding: “Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles.”
In November, Amazon had announced 10,000 layoffs. The cuts amount to 6 percent of Amazon’s roughly 300,000-person corporate workforce, as per a Reuters report. The online giant had hired aggressively through the pandemic and had a total workforce of 1.54 million (including warehouse staff) in September last year. This does not include part-time workers.
The layoff decisions, which Amazon will communicate starting January 18, will largely impact teams across the board, but the majority of role eliminations are in Amazon Stores and People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) organisations.
Jassy’s note, which he said was necessitated “because one of our teammates leaked this information externally” followed a report in the Wall Street Journal about the layoff decision.
Jassy wrote: “We are deeply aware that these role eliminations are difficult for people, and we don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted. We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.
“Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so. 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.”
Salesforce gave similar reasons for its plans to cut jobs by 10 percent and close some offices, saying rapid pandemic hiring left it with a bloated workforce amid an economic slowdown. The cloud-based software firm said the job cuts would lead to about $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion in charges.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff also resorted to an open letter to his employees and said: “I’ve been thinking a lot about how we came to this moment. As our revenue accelerated through the pandemic, we hired too many people leading into this economic downturn we’re now facing, and I take responsibility for that.”
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