Amazon Begins Layoffs, 10,000 Employees Expected to be Impacted

Amazon began a round of layoffs on Wednesday. The layoffs were initially reported by the New York Times (Lean Left Bias) on Tuesday, with reports stating approximately 10,000 employees could lose their position at the company as it works towards consolidating select divisions and teams.

Key Quotes: Dave Limp, Senior Vice President of Devices & Services at Amazon, addressed Amazon employees in a blog post on Wednesday, blaming the jobs cuts on the “unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment” and promising laid-off employees would receive “separation payment, transitional benefits, and external job placement support.” In a televised interview with CNN Business (Lean Left Bias), Amazon founder Jeff Bezos stated, “the probabilities say that if we’re not in a recession right now, we’re likely to be in one very soon.”

For Context: The layoffs follow a trend of work-force shrinkage in the tech sector in recent months. Twitter is in the process of cutting its work-force in half. Microsoft laid-off nearly 1,000 employees in October. Meta laid-off over 11,000 workers, 13% of the company’s workforce, earlier this month.

How the Media Covered It: The layoffs at Amazon were covered moderately across the spectrum, with the most coverage coming from business and technology outlets. The New York Times report attributed the Amazon layoffs to a decline in revenue after the extreme growth seen during the pandemic, when online shopping was increasingly relied on by consumers.