Amazon is planning a second round of job cuts next week as part of its broader goal of trimming some 30,000 corporate workers, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The company in October cut some 14,000 white collar jobs, about half of the 30,000 target first reported by Reuters. The total this time is expected to be roughly the same as last year and could begin as soon as Tuesday, the people said, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorised to discuss Amazon’s plans.
An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.
Jobs in its Amazon Web Services, retail, Prime Video and human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, units are slated to be impacted, the people said, though the full scope could not be learned. The people cautioned that the details of Amazon’s plans could change.
The Seattle online retailer tied the October round of job cuts to the rise of artificial intelligence software, saying in an internal letter that “this generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.”
However, CEO Andy Jassy later told analysts during the company’s third-quarter earnings call that the reduction was “not really financially driven and it’s not even really AI-driven.” Rather, he said, “it’s culture.”
By Greg Bensinger; Editor: David Gregorio
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