Amazon Layoffs: Job Cuts Hit Employees Working In The Company's Advertising Unit

The e-commerce behemoth Amazon confirmed that it commenced another round of workforce reduction on Tuesday by terminating several employees in its advertising division to curtail expenditure.

Paul Kotas, Amazon's Senior Vice President of Advertising, relayed information about the company's latest layoffs to its employees through an internal memo, CNBC TV 18 reported. The memo was shared with the publication by an Amazon spokesperson.

"As Andy shared a few weeks ago, throughout the 2023 planning process, we've been scrupulously prioritizing resources with an eye toward maximizing benefits to customers and the long-term health of our business. For Ads, this process has involved reallocating resources by shifting team members, slowing down or stopping certain programs, or concluding we didn't have the right skills in place to address our priorities. As a result, we have made deeply-considered decisions about how best to move forward, resulting in role eliminations for a small percentage of our organization," a section of the memorandum stated, as per CNBC.

Amazon, however, waited until Tuesday morning to notify its staff of the forthcoming job cuts. The communication, sent via email, stated that the layoffs were likely to affect employees in New York and New Jersey, and would commence on either June 20th or July 17th.

Workers impacted by the decision will be given a 60 to a 90-day transition period during which they can explore alternative roles within the company.

Kotas affirmed that those who have been laid off would be compensated with full pay and benefits for the following 60 days. However, staff members based in New York and New Jersey will be eligible for benefits for 90 days.

"Those affected will receive full pay and benefits for the next 60 days (90 days if in New York and New Jersey), plus an additional severance package and outplacement support to help with finding their next role outside of Amazon," he said.

According to Kotas, CEO Andy Jassy recently noted that as part of the 2023 planning process, the company has been meticulously allocating its resources to prioritize benefits for customers and ensure long-term business sustainability. In particular, the ads department has undergone a resource reallocation process by adjusting team composition, pausing or terminating certain projects, and identifying areas where the company lacked the necessary skills to meet its objectives.

However, the precise count of terminated employees remains undisclosed.

Jassy recently communicated his company's vision with its shareholders through a letter. In the written correspondence, he elaborated on the different cost-cutting initiatives undertaken by the organization, which included the challenging measure of eliminating 27,000 jobs. The CEO explained that this decision was taken to redirect the company's resources toward more critical areas.

Jassy further said that Amazon has encouraged their employees to attend the office at minimum thrice a week as of May, underscoring the significance of working in the office.

Amazon, last year, announced its decision to lay off a significant number of its employees in two separate rounds. The first round, which occurred in January 2023, resulted in the departure of 18,000 employees from retail, devices, recruiting, and human resources departments. In March, the company revealed that it would also let go of 9,000 employees, affecting workers in the ads business, cloud computing, Twitch live streaming, and HR teams.