Amazon will lay off 9,000 people employed so far mainly in the AWS (online services), Twitch (streaming), advertising and human resources divisions. There decision was communicated by Andy Jassy, the CEO of the company, citing the “economic unknowns” of this period and the need to rationalize expenses. Last year, Amazon had already laid off 18,000 people in almost all of its sectors.
2022 was Amazon’s worst last quarter of the year, with losses of $2.7 billion, the first since 2014 when the company first started producing profits. In addition to significantly reducing staff, Amazon has suspended construction on a large new headquarters in Virginia, closed several physical stores and reduced plans to sell fresh products, such as supermarket products, in physical stores.