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Amazon to Lay Off Another 9,000 Employees
posted on by Adriana Hazra
Senior management will make final decisions on the positions affected by the layoffs between “mid to late April.” Jassy stated that the layoffs are due to economic “uncertainty” citing the addition of “a significant amount of headcount” at the company over several years. Amazon's combined full-time and part-time employee count is up nearly 19% at 1.541 million as of December 3, compared with the previous year's 1.298 million.
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear resigned his post last week after 16 years at the company.
Amazon laid off a major number of its staff at its digital comic book platform division Comixology on January 18. According to Comixology program manager Scott McGovern, "numerous" staffers, about 75%, were affected and received an email from Amazon regarding the layoffs. Polygon reported that many people had been affected, and The Beat stated that all jobs at Comixology had been eliminated. The entire division was laid off in three parts: with some leaving immediately, others in June, and another group that will stay until October. Amazon acquired Comixology in 2014. In February 2022, Amazon integrated Comixology into Kindle.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy previously stated on January 4 that the current economy was a factor in this decision, and that the company's goal was to pursue "long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure." McGovern confirmed that according to a note sent by Amazon's retail CEO Doug Herrington, the layoffs were "part of a wider effort to lower [its] cost to serve."
Amazon began laying off employees in November with a reported plan to lay off about 10,000 people in corporate and technology jobs. This includes the Amazon devices organization (Alexa), retail division, and human resources. The company then revealed on January 5 that it was laying off about 18,000 jobs.
Source: Variety (Todd Spangler)
