On March 20th, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) announced that it will be cutting an additional 9,000 jobs. This is in addition to the ongoing trend of layoffs in the technology industry, as companies try to streamline their operations due to the uncertain economy.
It is notable that Amazon, which has been known for creating a large number of jobs, has now eliminated 27,000 positions in recent months. This accounts for about 9% of their corporate workforce, which is roughly 300,000 employees.
The latest round of cuts will mainly affect Amazon’s cloud and advertising divisions, which were once thought to be impervious to downsizing. However, due to economic concerns, many business customers are now re-evaluating their spending and cutting back on services.
Amazon’s Twitch streaming unit will also be impacted by the layoffs, with more than 400 employees set to be laid off according to Dan Clancy, the newly appointed CEO of Twitch. The company is aiming to finalize its list of terminated employees by April.
The announcement has had a negative effect on Amazon’s stock, which fell 1.8%. This move by Amazon is part of a trend of layoffs in the technology industry, which has seen other major corporations such as Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) cutting large numbers of employees despite previously actively recruiting them.
“I don’t think this means much for other companies, except that all will be more careful before allowing their headcount to balloon in the future,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said.
