Recent reports indicate that Amazon China has initiated layoffs, with some employees reportedly receiving notification emails from headquarters on April 8th. The leaked content of these emails suggests that Amazon cited optimization of teams in other business sectors and identified redundancies in job categories such as project management and sales operations as reasons for the layoffs. As a result, hundreds of positions in specific sales, marketing, and global service organizations are being reduced.
Last Wednesday, Amazon announced layoffs within its cloud computing division AWS, citing a ‘strategic shift.’ Additionally, the company revealed plans to cut hundreds of positions in the team responsible for physical store technology. Amazon emphasized that these decisions are part of efforts to invest in other business priorities.
Duncan Neasham, an Amazon spokesperson, commented that while these decisions are difficult, they are necessary to continue investing, hiring, and optimizing resources to drive innovation for customers.
The layoffs at AWS follow previous workforce reductions by Amazon and its subsidiaries earlier this year. In January, the company eliminated hundreds of positions in its Prime Video and MGM Studios departments. Similarly, Amazon’s popular social media platform Twitch laid off over 500 employees to manage costs, while online audiobook and podcast service Audible reduced approximately 5% of its workforce.
Despite the layoffs, Amazon affirms its commitment to recruitment in priority areas, with thousands of AWS job vacancies currently advertised online. The company pledges to explore internal opportunities for affected employees to minimize the impact of the role reductions.
