Reduction falls heavily on retail and human resources.

Amazon announced last Thursday that it is cutting off more than 18,000 workers, the most in the company's history, in the latest indicator that the recession in the tech industry is worsening.

Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy revealed the layoffs, which represent around 1% of Amazon's workforce, in an email to employees last Wednesday, citing the company's yearly planning process.

The purges began last year and were originally supposed to affect 10,000 people. The relocation is focused in the company's corporate ranks, namely in Amazon's retail business and human resources activities such as recruiting.

"Amazon has withstood vague and difficult economies in the past, and we will do so in the future," added Jassy. "With a better cost structure, we will be able to pursue our long-term opportunities."

Though the threat of layoffs has hung over Amazon for months — the business has admitted that it employed too many workers during the Covid pandemic - the growing figure indicates that the firm's outlook has deteriorated. It joins other tech titans in making significant cutbacks.

Amazon investors reacted positively to the latest cost-cutting measures, anticipating that it will boost the e-commerce company's profitability. The stock rose roughly 1.8% in pre-New York market trade last Thursday. The concept was initially disclosed by the Wall Street Journal.

The 18,000 job cuts would be the most significant for a tech company during the current slump, but Amazon has a significantly larger staff number than its Silicon Valley contemporaries. As of the end of September, it employed over 1.5 million people.

A representative for Amazon claimed in November that the business employed around 350,000 corporate workers globally.

The world's largest online retailer spent the end of last year adapting to a significant slowdown in e-commerce growth as buyers returned to pre-pandemic habits. Amazon has postponed warehouse expansions and ceased hiring in its retail division. It extended the freeze to the company's corporate workforce and subsequently began making cutbacks.

Jassy has closed or scaled back experimental and unproductive ventures, including teams working on a telemedicine service, a delivery robot, and a video-calling gadget for children, among other initiatives.

In addition, the Seattle-based corporation is attempting to match surplus capacity with cooling demand. According to those familiar with the situation, one attempt is to try to sell extra capacity on its cargo flights.

Parts of Amazon's business, which began as an online bookshop, are levelling off. However, it continues to invest in its cloud computing, advertising, and video streaming businesses.

The initial round of layoffs targeted Amazon's Devices and Services division, which produces the Alexa digital assistant and the Echo smart speaker, among other goods. Last month, the unit's CEO told Bloomberg that layoffs numbered less than 2,000 personnel and that Amazon remained dedicated to the voice assistant.

Some recruiters and staff in the company's human resources department were given buyouts. Jassy informed staff in November that additional layoffs in its retail and HR departments will occur in 2023.

Jassy stated in the message that the business will pay severance, transitional health insurance, and job placement to affected employees. In an apparent allusion to the Wall Street Journal article, he also reprimanded an employee for leaking the news. He stated that the business intends to begin addressing the changes with affected staff on January 18th.

"Long-lasting companies go through numerous periods," Jassy explained. "They are not constantly expanding their workforce."

(Bloomberg.com, CNBC.com)