Amazon cuts 9,000 workers in latest round of layoffs

Thousands of Amazon employees learned they are out of job Wednesday morning as the company carried out its latest round of layoffs.

Last month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced 9,000 positions would be cut by the end of April, bringing the total to 27,000 this year. The layoffs were primarily concentrated in Amazon’s cloud and human resources departments.

“It is a tough day across our organization,” said Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky in an email to employees shared with KUOW. “I fully realize the impact on every person and family who is affected.”

Amazon’s latest layoff is part of a broader trend across the tech industry. Microsoft, Meta, Google, and other large and mid-sized tech companies have been slashing thousands of jobs amid an uncertain economic environment.

Seattle-based companies account for 15% of tech layoffs so far this year, according to Roger Lee, an entrepreneur and creator of the site Layoffs.fyi. Lee began tracking layoffs early in the pandemic in the hopes of recruiting talent to his startup. He took his tool public so that others in the tech industry and media could keep track of the trend.