Amazon to axe 18,000 jobs globally; CEO blames 'uncertain economy'

Technology giant Amazon said on Thursday its previously announced global layoffs would increase to more than 18,000 due to an “uncertain economy”. The company, which employs around 10,000 in India, will start communicating with the impacted employees from January 18.

The job cuts — about 80 per cent higher than earlier estimates — are part of Amazon’s annual operating planning review process.

The layoffs will impact several teams, but the majority of role eliminations will be at Amazon Stores and the people, experience, and technology (PXT) organisation, said Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy in a note to employees.

The job cuts are nearly 6 per cent of Amazon’s 300,000-strong corporate workforce and represent a swift turn for a company that recently doubled its base pay ceiling to compete more aggressively for talent.

“This year’s review has been more difficult, given the uncertain economy and us having hired rapidly over the past several years. In November, we communicated the hard decision to eliminate several positions across our devices and books businesses, and also announced a voluntary reduction offer for some employees in our PXT organisation,” said Jassy.

Amazon’s latest announcement marks a continuation of a slump in jobs offered by global tech companies. Facebook parent Meta, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Stripe, and Twitter announced a big reduction in headcount last year.

Amazon India said last year it would wind up its distribution, food delivery, and education technology (edtech) divisions by the end of 2023, citing the same review process.

When the job cuts were first announced in November last calendar, 200-300 staffers were expected to be laid off in the India unit, sources had informed, adding that attempts would be made to absorb as many as possible into the different business units of the company. Only those not reassigned would be let go, they said.

Email queries sent to Amazon India remained unanswered until the time of going to press.

The distribution unit is operated in three cities of Karnataka — Bengaluru, Mysuru, and Hubbali. About 50 employees worked on the Amazon Distribution project. About 25 employees each working in the edtech and food delivery units have been absorbed by the company.

However, Manish Tiwary, vice-president and country manager, consumer business, Amazon India, told Business Standard in December that the company would continue to hire in India and invest to create infrastructure in the market.