Amazon CEO Andy Jassy
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Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy issued a note to employees Thursday.
He said the company’s layoffs will extend into the new year.
Amazon announced Wednesday that layoffs had begun.
After confirming that layoffs had begun at Amazon on Wednesday, CEO Andy Jassy issued a note to employees made public on Thursday that the layoffs would extend into the new year.
Jassy said this was the “most difficult decision” he and his team have made since he succeeded Bezos as CEO last year.
“It’s not lost on me or any of the leaders who make these decisions that these aren’t just roles we’re eliminating, but rather, people with emotions, ambitions, and responsibilities whose lives will be impacted,” Jassy wrote.
He noted that the company would be working to support those who have been affected by the layoffs by trying to find replacement roles at Amazon.
Amazon’s layoffs— which affected its Devices and Books business — are a surprising turn of events in the company’s trajectory. Amazon has largely been uninhibited in its growth over the past several years. Over the coming weeks though, Amazon will be cutting around 3% of its staff, eliminating about 10,000, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Employees had been anticipating the layoffs before Jassy announced them on Wednesday. Insider reported Tuesday that amidst a “communication vacuum from leadership” employees were “cobbling together self-reports and rumors to try to gain a fuller picture of who will be leaving.”
Jassy noted that decisions on further roles to be eliminated will be shared with the impacted employees and organizations in 2023.
Amazon did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for a comment.