Amazon layoffs news: the company plans to lay off more than 18,000 employees. The IT giant’s CEO Andy Jesse announced this in an address to the staff published on the company’s website. 

Speaking about the reasons for the decision, the Amazon chief cited “uncertainty in the economy” and the fact that the company has been actively hiring new employees over the past few years. “Companies that have been around for a long time go through different phases. They’re not in staff expansion mode every year,” the CEO said. 

The 18,000 number includes layoffs the company announced last November, they said. Jesse clarified that the layoffs will mostly affect Amazon’s retail business, such as offline stores Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, and the PXT division, which handles human resources issues. He did not say which countries would be affected by the layoffs, but said Europe was among them. The situation has already affected Amazon’s stock price. 

Amazon layoffs today – what’s going on? 

Amazon layoffs today at 18,000 employees, will be the largest in Amazon’s nearly 30-year history, notes The Guardian. The publication estimates that the layoffs will affect 6 percent of the company’s corporate workforce of about 300,000 people. Worldwide, Amazon employs more than 1.5 million people.

In mid-November, several media outlets, including the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, reported that Amazon would lay off about 10,000 workers, giving up the most unprofitable or least efficient divisions. The cuts would primarily take place in the device development divisions, including the Alexa voice assistant, human resources and the retail division, the WSJ wrote. Jesse has since confirmed in a statement to employees that the company is beginning to downsize, indicating that layoffs will continue into 2023. 

Amazon’s plans came to light in a wave of layoffs in the technology sector. Earlier, Meta Platforms announced that it would cut more than 11,000 jobs, or 13% of its workforce. Massive layoffs began on Twitter. Billionaire Ilon Musk, the social network’s new owner, announced that 50% of the 7,500 employees would be affected by the cuts. “Unfortunately, the company has no choice as it loses more than $4 million a day,” they explained.

Earlier, we reported that U.S. stock indices were down.