Today Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced in a memo to employees that the company will cut an additional 9,000 jobs in the next few weeks to streamline costs amid the uncertain economy. This comes on top of the 18,000 jobs that Amazon had already planned to cut as part of a workforce reduction that began in November. The latest round of cuts will primarily affect the company’s cloud computing unit AWS, its PXT group, which handles human resources, and game streaming service Twitch, as well as Amazon’s advertising business.
Jassy said that the teams affected by the layoffs are not yet making final decisions on precisely which roles will be impacted, and the roles being eliminated should be finalized by the end of April. Amazon will provide separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support to the affected employees. The tech industry has already shed over 100,000 jobs as companies like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have also announced massive cuts in recent months.