Amazon announces 18,000 job cuts

E-commerce platform Amazon is eliminating over 18,000 roles across departments but majorly the Amazon Stores and People Experience and Technology Solutions (PXT) teams. In a statement, Amazon's chief executive officer Andy Jassy said that the company will start sharing the details with the impacted employees from January 18.  In the latest announcement, Jassy said that typically speaks to the impacted employees before making the information public, but decided to share the news as one of the teammates leaked the information externally.

“We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support, he said.

On 18 November, 2022, Amazon said that it will begin a round of layoffs without giving the number of jobs being cut. Jassy said that a number of positions across the Devices and Books businesses were eliminated. The company also introduced a voluntary reduction offer for some employees in the PXT organisation. Earlier, the company halted its warehouse expansion plans, froze hiring, canceled projects, and shut down some parts of its business. 

This announcement from Amazon comes at a time when several big tech companies are laying off staff. On Wednesday, cloud computing company Salesforce let go of 10% or over 7,000 employees.

In separate news, Amazon said on Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with certain lenders to raise $8 billion in unsecured loans. In a statement to Reuters, Amazon's spokesperson said that the company has been exploring different financial options to support capital expenditure, working capital need, debt repayments, and acquisitions.