Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has announced the company plans to lay off an additional 9,000 employees, particularly in AWS, PXT, Advertising, and Twitch.
Amazon has already laid off 18,000 employees, between reported decisions made in November and an expansion of those plans in January. CEO Andy Jassy has announced that the company plans to expand the scope of its layoffs once more, this time letting an additional 9,000 employees go:
As we’ve just concluded the second phase of our operating plan (“OP2”) this past week, I’m writing to share that we intend to eliminate about 9,000 more positions in the next few weeks—mostly in AWS, PXT, Advertising, and Twitch. This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term.
Jassy says a big part of the decision-making process involved looking at what mattered to the company’s customers and how best to meet those needs:
As our internal businesses evaluated what customers most care about, they made re-prioritization decisions that sometimes led to role reductions, sometimes led to moving people from one initiative to another, and sometimes led to new openings where we don’t have the right skills match from our existing team members.
It’s interesting that AWS is one of the teams being targeted with this round of layoffs, but Jassy emphasized his faith in the cloud division’s future:
I remain very optimistic about the future and the myriad of opportunities we have, both in our largest businesses, Stores and AWS, and our newer customer experiences and businesses in which we’re investing.