As part of a previously announced workforce reduction, Amazon.com Inc. will now be eliminating more than 18,000 employees, according to Chief Executive Andy Jassy in a public staff letter on Wednesday.
The company’s e-commerce and human resources departments will be the most affected by the layoff choices, which Amazon will announce starting on January 18, he added.
The reductions, which reflect a quick flip for a retailer that recently quadrupled its base pay threshold to compete more fiercely for talent, account for 6% of Amazon’s approximately 300,000-person corporate workforce.
Annual planning ‘has been more challenging given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years,’ Jassy wrote in the note.
Amazon has more than 1.5 million workers including warehouse staff, making it America’s second-largest private employer after Walmart Inc. It has braced for likely slower growth as soaring inflation encouraged businesses and consumers to cut back spending and its share price has halved in the past year.
It began letting staff go in November from its devices division, with a source telling Reuters at the time it was targeting 10,000 job cuts.
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