LONODN (Reuters) - Thousands of Amazon workers woke up to a brutal email from their employer informing them their role had ‘been eliminated’ effective immediately.
Around 18,000 staff were let go in the latest round of job cuts first announced by CEO Andy Jassy in November.
The layoffs are the latest in the U.S. technology sector, with companies cutting their bloated workforce and slashing costs to reverse pandemic-era excesses and prepare for a worsening global economy.
The company is terminating 2,300 employees in Seattle and Bellevue, according to an update on the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) site. The U.S. labor law requires companies planning a mass layoff to inform employees 60 days before the closure.
Amazon.com Chief Executive Andy Jassy said earlier this month the cuts, about 6% of the company’s roughly 300,000 corporate employees, would mostly impact the e-commerce and human resources divisions. Microsoft said earlier on Wednesday it would cut about 10,000 jobs and take a $1.2-billion charge.