Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) will start cutting over 18,000 jobs later this month in a bid to reduce operating costs and brace for the effects of the slowing economy, its chief executive Andy Jassy announced on Thursday.
Most of the reductions will be made among staff working in Amazon Stores and within its technology organisations, but several teams will be impacted, Jassy said.
“These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure,” he said.
“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.”
Amazon, which has seen its market value topple from US$1.6trn to half that amount over the past year, also said it had taken out an unsecured US$8bn loan earlier this week, citing it was exploring new financing options in the “uncertain macroeconomic environment”.
The new wave of job cuts follow Amazon cutting around 10,000 jobs in November, which affected its retail and human resources divisions, as well as its Alexa business.
Majority owner and executive chairman Jeff Bezos warned around the same time that companies should “batten down the hatches” to prepare for the effects of the slowing global economy.
Mass layoffs have been seen around the tech sector, with Twitter and Facebook owner Meta Platforms among firms which cut thousands of jobs late last year.
The industry saw some 153,000 job losses in 2022, according to the layoffs.fyi website, as companies axed loss-making departments and worked to streamline in light of a worsening economic outlook, though Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg suggested cuts to 11,000 jobs in his company were the result of poor decision making in the pandemic.