Amazon is cutting fewer than 1,000 white-collar roles, primarily within its Stores division that runs the company’s main e-commerce site, Reuters reported. The round of job reductions follows earlier workforce cuts that totaled roughly 30,000 positions beginning last year and continuing into January, according to reporting cited by Reuters and Business Insider.
Business Insider was the first outlet to report the latest layoffs, and Reuters said a person familiar with the matter confirmed the total would be under 1,000. Internal Slack messages reviewed by Reuters and shared by affected employees indicate the reductions will touch multiple teams across the company.
According to the reporting, customer service and selling partner services are among the units expected to be affected. Employees in the United States, India and the United Kingdom are reported to be among those impacted.
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Amazon to eliminate about 1,000 corporate jobs in stores unit and other areas, report says
An Amazon spokesperson told FOX Business that the company regularly reviews “team structures to ensure we’re best set up to move fast as we innovate for customers.” The spokesperson added, “We’ve adjusted parts of our Stores business because we believe this structure will better enable us to deliver on our priorities. As part of these changes, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles, and we’re committed to supporting affected employees through their transition.”
The reported cuts come as Amazon wrapped up its October Prime Big Deal Days sales event, which ran Tuesday and Wednesday, the article noted.
The latest reductions are smaller than the previously announced rounds of layoffs that together removed about 30,000 jobs across the company since last year. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has previously addressed those broader workforce reductions in an interview with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier on “Special Report,” saying Amazon had expanded its workforce substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In that interview, Bezos also acknowledged public concerns about artificial intelligence’s effect on jobs but said he disagreed with predictions of especially troubling outcomes, according to the Fox News report.
Reporting for the story cited Reuters and Business Insider for the initial accounts and referenced internal messages reviewed by Reuters. FOX Business published Amazon’s spokesperson comments. Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to the report.
