Amazon plans layoffs for 18,000 employees

Tech giant Amazon plans to lay off a total of 18,000 people, CEO Andy Jassy has announced. It is one of the largest rounds of layoffs at a tech company to date. An earlier rumor pointed to 10,000 layoffs.

Most of the layoffs are in the Amazon Stores and People, Experience, and Technology divisions, says Jassy. Amazon wanted to wait to announce the round of layoffs, but felt compelled to share it anyway after business newspaper The Wall Street Journal wrote about it. As a result, not everyone affected has yet been informed. Amazon wants to notify employees in about two weeks.

In absolute numbers, the round of layoffs is large, but in a relative sense it is not too bad. According to its own quarterly figures as of the end of October, Amazon had a total of more than one and a half million employees, not including contingent and hired workers. The company had grown considerably in recent years, but that growth had slowed down considerably last autumn. In November, it was rumored that the round of layoffs would affect about 10,000 employees.