Amazon on Wednesday started laying off employees in its cloud computing and human resources divisions.
Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky and Beth Galetti, senior vice president of Amazon’s People Experience and Technology, sent separate notes to all impacted employees in the United States, Canada, and Costa Rica informing them of the job cuts.
“It is a tough day across our organization. I fully realize the impact on every person and family who is affected,” wrote Selipsky. “We are working hard to treat everyone impacted with respect, and to provide a number of resources and touchpoints to aid in this transition.”
The layoffs are part of the latest round of 9,000 job cuts announced by CEO Andy Jassy in March, which affected Amazon Web Services (AWS) staff, human resources, advertising, and the Twitch livestreaming units.
So far, Amazon has axed 27,000 mostly corporate positions after a hiring spree during the pandemic. The latest layoffs followed a separate round of cuts earlier this year that affected approximately 18,000 employees.
“Given this rapid growth, as well as the overall business and macroeconomic climate, it is critical that we focus on identifying and putting our resources behind our top priorities—those things that matter most to customers and that will move the needle for our business,” Selipsky said.
“In many cases, this means team members are shifting the projects, initiatives, or teams on which they work; however, in other cases, it has resulted in these role eliminations.”
Cloud computing unit AWS is one of the e-commerce giant’s biggest and most profitable departments. Despite the layoffs, Selipsky is optimistic about AWS’s long-term prospects, adding that it is a “leading cloud provider by a wide range of benchmarks.”
Meanwhile, Galetti, in a separate note to her team, also cited company-wide decisions “prioritizing what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our businesses.”
“While this moment is hard, I remain energized by the important work that lies ahead of us,” Galetti wrote. “Together, we are building a workplace that helps fuel how Amazonians invent and deliver for customers.”
Amazon said workers who were laid off would get a 60-day nonworking transition period, a severance package, and help finding external roles.
Amazon’s latest job cuts this year are a fraction of its overall global workforce of about 1.5 million.
