It seems that the crisis in the technology sector continues, as the giant Amazon announced 9,000 new layoffs. This new employee layoff is in addition to the 18,000 announced in January and takes place in a complicated context for large technology companies.
The massive layoffs at Amazon are not the only ones, as Meta also continues with workforce reductions around the world, as does Twitter.
The economic crisis being experienced in several countries is affecting large technology companies, which have had to restructure in order to cut costs.
The cut is the second largest in Amazon’s history.
Amazon’s shares continue to decline, so further restructuring is expected. The 9,000 layoffs were the second largest cut in Amazon’s history, which shows the magnitude of the current crisis.
Twitch has been one of the hardest hit areas. The number of viewers of this streaming platform has been declining, something that adds to the general crisis that Amazon is experiencing. As a result, 20% of the platform’s workforce, which amounts to just over 400 people, has been laid off. Adding to the crisis Twitch is experiencing is that its CEO for the past 16 years, Emmet Shear, has left his post. Although he will continue as a consultant, he was replaced by Dan Clancy.
In addition to Twitch, the other areas affected by the layoffs are AWS Web Services, PXT and Advertising. With the announcement of the 9,000 job cuts, Amazon has laid off a total of 27,000 people in the last four months.
According to Amazon’s new CEO and replacement for Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, this restructuring is being done with the goal of achieving greater efficiency with costs and personnel.
Meta and Twitter, also in trouble
The layoffs at Amazon are part of a general labor crisis in the technology area. Meta, the company owned by Mark Zuckerberg, laid off 11 thousand workers, representing 13% of its total workforce. In addition to this, there are no new hires and there are plans to reduce discretionary spending as well. This is largely due to declining revenues and sharp drops in share value, following large investments in the so-called metaverse.
On the side of Google, there were also layoffs, since at the beginning of 2023, 12,000 people were left without jobs in that company. Twitter is another company that decided to make large staff cuts, as it laid off 50% of employees worldwide.
In the case of Amazon, everything seems to indicate that these will not be the last layoffs, as the planning processes are not over and there may be more developments during the course of the year. According to Jassy, they will provide support to those who were laid off as they will receive 16 weeks of severance pay, two additional weeks for each year of service, covered medical care for the family, among other benefits.
