Seattle (US), Nov 15 (Agency) Amazon is the latest US company to make deep cuts to its employee base to brace for a potential economic downturn. Amazon is planning to lay off about 10,000 people in corporate and technology jobs starting as soon as this week, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. It is likely to be the largest job cuts in the company’s history.
Amazon’s retail, devices and human resources department will likely be impacted. The job cuts will focus on the e-commerce giant’s devices unit, which houses voice-assistant Alexa, as well as its retail division and human resources, according to the report, which also said the total number of layoffs remains fluid, international media reports said. Last week, Facebook-parent Meta Platforms said it would cut more than 11,000 jobs or 13 per cent of its workforce, to rein in costs. Others include Elon Musk-owned Twitter Inc, Microsoft Corp and Snap Inc. As of December 31 last year, Amazon had more than 1.6 million full-time and part-time employees and had recently said it would freeze hiring to corporate workforce for the next few months, media reports said.