As part of a previously disclosed workforce reduction, Amazon.com Inc. will now be eliminating more than 18,000 roles, according to Chief Executive Andy Jassy in a public staff note on Wednesday.
The company’s e-commerce and human resources departments will be the most affected by the layoff decisions, which Amazon will announce starting on January 18, he said.
The reductions affect 6% of Amazon’s approximately 300,000-person corporate workforce and signal a quick turn for the retailer after it recently doubled its base pay ceiling in an effort to compete more fiercely for talent.
Mr. Jassy said in the note that annual planning “has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years.”
Amazon is America’s second-largest private employer after Walmart Inc. with more than 1.5 million employees, including warehouse staff. Since its share price has decreased by half over the past year due to rising inflation, it has prepared for likely slower growth.
It began letting staff go in November from its devices division, with a source telling Reuters at the time it was targeting 10,000 job cuts.
Its layoffs now outnumber those at Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc. (11,000 jobs cut), as well as those at competitors in the tech sector.