Amazon is set for new round of job cuts affecting 18,000 people

Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) layoffs will now include more than 18,000 roles as part of a workforce reduction it previously disclosed, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said in a public staff note on Wednesday.

The layoff decisions, which Amazon will communicate starting Jan. 18, will largely impact the company's e-commerce and human resources organizations, he said.

The cuts amount to 6% of Amazon's roughly 300,000-person corporate workforce and represent a swift turn for a retailer that recently doubled its base pay ceiling to compete more aggressively for talent.

They also show how layoffs continue to shake the technology sector.

Amazon's layoffs now surpass the 11,000 cuts announced last year by Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), underscoring the retailer's slide from an essential business moving goods during pandemic lockdowns, to a company that overbuilt for demand.

Amazon has more than 1.5 million workers including warehouse staff, making it America's second-largest private employer after Walmart Inc (WMT.N). Jassy indicated its cuts extend to Europe.

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".

The reductions will bring Amazon's corporate workforce closer to September 2021 levels, when it told Reuters this headcount numbered around 275,000 people globally.