Amazon is planning to dismiss about 10,000 people in corporate and technology jobs starting as soon as this week, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The cuts would be the largest in Amazon’s history and come as other tech companies including Meta and Twitter are also shedding workers.
Amazon’s cuts will reportedly focus on the e-commerce giant’s devices unit, which houses voice-assistant Alexa, as well as its retail division and human resources.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As of 31 December last year, Amazon had about 1,608,000 full-time and part-time employees and the cuts would represent about 3% of Amazon’s corporate employees and less than 1% of its global workforce.
Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, has warned that he believes the US is either in or heading towards a recession and that people and corporations should “batten down the hatches”.
On Sunday Bezos told CNN: “The probabilities say if we’re not in a recession right now, we’re likely to be in one very soon. My advice to people whether they’re small business owners is take some risk off the table. If you were going to make a purchase, maybe slow down that purchase a little bit. Keep some dry powder on hand and wait a bit.”
Last week, Facebook-parent Meta Platforms said it would cut more than 11,000 jobs, or 13% of its workforce, to rein in costs. Twitter has announced it is cutting half of its 7,500 employees.
Reuters contributed to this story