What you need to know
- Amazon is the latest major tech company to announce employee layoffs.
- Dave Limp, an executive at Amazon, announced changes to the Devices & Services unit in a blog post.
- The company reportedly plans to lay off as many as 10,000 employees.
Big Tech isn't done shaving down its workforce as Amazon begins laying off a number of employees. An executive confirmed the move to reduce its headcount in a blog post on Wednesday.
Dave Limp, senior vice president of Devices & Services at Amazon, posted a statement regarding updates the company is making to the business. The notice was shared the same day with the Devices & Services organization.
In the message, Limp explains that Amazon has had to "consolidate some teams and programs," which resulted in the loss of roles within the organization. Affected employees were informed on Tuesday about their roles within the company.
"While I know this news is tough to digest, I do want to emphasize that the Devices & Services organization remains an important area of investment for Amazon, and we will continue to invent on behalf of our customers," Limp continues. "Having gone through times like this in the past I know that when there's a difficult economy, customers tend to gravitate to the companies and products they believe have the best customer experience and that take care of them the best. Historically, Amazon has done a very good job at this."
Amazon is the latest tech company to announce employee layoffs, following Twitter and Meta, which both reduced their headcounts by thousands. Recent quarterly earnings revealed that Big Tech was feeling the effects of the economy, resulting in revenue misses and lower-than-expected guidance for the holidays. Despite recently holding a second Prime Day sale and prepping for Black Friday sales, Amazon's outlook for the quarter is below analysts' expectations.
It's unclear how many employees have lost their positions at Amazon, but reports indicated that the e-commerce giant planned to lay off roughly 10,000 employees or 3% of its corporate workforce. The Devices & Services unit, which is apparently where the brunt of the cuts were made, is responsible for consumer products like Echo devices, Kindle readers, and Fire TV devices, among many others.
An Amazon spokesperson did not confirm the number but told Android Central that the layoffs were part of Amazon's annual review process.
"As we've gone through this, given the current macro-economic environment (as well as several years of rapid hiring), some teams are making adjustments, which in some cases means certain roles are no longer necessary."
"We don't take these decisions lightly, and we are working to support any employees who may be affected."
