Amazon CEO Andy Jassy posted about the 9,000 layoffs on the company’s blog. (Source: Amazon YouTube video)

Amazon Continues Paring Down Workforce to Save Money in Economic Downturn for Tech Stocks

Yesterday Amazon announced yet another massive layoff of employees—9,000 this time—after already laying off a record 18,000 in January, according to a story on Geekwire.com, which tracks tech company news.

Geekwire noted that the total of tech layoffs so far this year has reached a staggering 140,000 workers among 500 tech companies. The tech sector is contracting partly due to overexpansion and to lower demand for services post-pandemic.

In a note to employees posted to the company’s blog, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the cuts will mostly affect AWS, PXT (People Experience and Technology), Advertising, and Twitch. “This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term,” Jassy wrote.

The company has a total workforce of 1.5 million employees, including warehouse workers who aren’t part of the cost-cutting effort. Amazon is cutting services and products, while also eliminating many of its physical areas, like bookstores and eight Amazon Go convenience stores. It has also cut back on its Amazon Care primary healthcare business. Jassy explained it further in his memo:

“If I go back to our tenet—being leaner while doing so in a way that enables us to still invest robustly in the key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve customers’ lives and Amazon as a whole—I believe the result of this year’s planning cycle is a plan that accomplishes this objective. I remain very optimistic about the future and the myriad of opportunities we have, both in our largest businesses, Stores and AWS, and our newer customer experiences and businesses in which we’re investing.”

read more at geekwire.com