• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, January 5, 2023

Amazon has confirmed that it will lay off more than 18,000 employees, or 1.2% of its worldwide full- and part-time workforce of more than 1.54 million.

The 18,000, which include layoffs implemented last fall, is significantly higher than the 10,000 total that Amazon had been planning, according to multiple media reports at that time.

In November, CEO Andy Jassy announced job cuts in Amazon’s Devices and Books businesses, buyout offers for some PXT (human resources solutions) employees, and more role reductions coming in 2023 as team leaders “continue to make adjustments.”

In a memo to staff on Wednesday, Jassy said that the review for 2023 “has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years.”

Amazon and other companies expanded staff significantly to handle the pandemic-driven upsurge in ecommerce, but are now restructuring and downsizing to reflect consumer spending cutbacks due to inflation and economic concerns and some rebound in physical-store shopping.

Amazon management will begin notifying affected employees in January 18, Jazzy said. He said Amazon will provide a “separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support” to those being let go, and expressed gratitude for their contributions to the company.

“These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure; however, I’m also optimistic that we’ll be inventive, resourceful, and scrappy in this time when we’re not hiring expansively and eliminating some roles,” Jazzy wrote. “Companies that last a long time go through different phases. They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year. We often talk about our leadership principle Invent and Simplify in the context of creating new products and features. There will continue to be plenty of this across all of the businesses we’re pursuing. 

Amazon’s stock had lost about 38% of its value year-to-date as of Q3 2022. Its net sales rose 10% year-over-year, to $364.8 billion, in the first nine months, driven by growth in North America and its AWS business, but international revenue slowed. Net income showed a $3 billion loss, versus a $19 billion profit in the year-ago period, due in large part to higher operating costs as a percentage of revenues.