November 17, 2022
Amazon is laying off some employees in its devices and services division, according to hardware chief Dave Limp, in a memo to employees on Wednesday, as the company braces for more macroeconomic disruption.
Dave Limp announced in a blog post that the company had decided to consolidate teams in its devices unit, which popularized voice-controlled speakers. Amazon has been informing affected employees since Tuesday, he added.
Amazon has not disclosed how many employees will be laid off, but there have been reports that up to 10,000 people could be laid off. Employees working on the company’s Echo devices and Alexa voice assistant, retail operations, and human resources are expected to be laid off.
Amazon’s job cuts are a sharp reversal from a year ago, when it couldn’t find enough workers to staff its warehouses and went on a pandemic-fueled hiring spree. It nearly doubled its global workforce from 798,000 to 1.6 million between the end of 2019 and the end of 2021.
The expected layoffs would be the largest in the company’s 28-year history, and the number of layoffs remains a moving target because decisions are made business by business.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
