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Amazon to cut 'about 9,000 more positions', CEO says

Andy Jassy said this was "a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term"
Jack Quann
Jack Quann

17.14 20 Mar 2023


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Amazon to cut 'about 9,000 mor...

Amazon to cut 'about 9,000 more positions', CEO says

Jack Quann
Jack Quann

17.14 20 Mar 2023


Share this article


Amazon is to cut some 9,000 more positions in the next few weeks, the online retail giant has announced.

This will mostly be in its cloud services, advertising, PXT [People Experience and Technology] and Twitch divisions.

It follows the 18,000 job cuts the business announced in January. 

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Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO, said this was "a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term."

In a message to staff, Mr Jassy said this is down to uncertain economic conditions.

"For several years leading up to this one, most of our businesses added a significant amount of headcount," he said.

"This made sense given what was happening in our businesses and the economy as a whole.

"However, given the uncertain economy in which we reside, and the uncertainty that exists in the near future, we have chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount".

 Amazon's fulfilment centre at Baldonnell Business Park in Dublin Amazon's fulfilment centre at Baldonnell Business Park in Dublin. Picture by: Amazon

Mr Jassy said their "overriding tenet" of this year was "to be leaner while doing so in a way that enables us to still invest robustly in the key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve customers’ lives and Amazon as a whole."

"Some may ask why we didn't announce these role reductions with the ones we announced a couple months ago," Mr Jassy continued.

"The short answer is that not all of the teams were done with their analyses in the late fall; and rather than rush through these assessments without the appropriate diligence, we chose to share these decisions as we've made them so people had the information as soon as possible".

He said the company "will, of course, support those we have to let go, and will provide packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support."

Amazon Ireland

It is unclear how Irish operations may be affected by any redundancies.

Amazon employs some 5,000 people here.

Last September, it opened its first Irish fulfilment centre at Baldonnell Business Park in Dublin.

The warehouse created 500 new jobs and sees items packed and shipped to customers across Ireland and the rest of Europe.

Amazon first opened an office in Ireland back in September 2004, and this was followed in April 2006 with a Customer Service Centre in Cork.

In November 2007, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched its first infrastructure region outside of the US in Ireland.

It also owns a number of wind farms here that help to power its Irish data centres.

Main image: Amazon offices are seen in Dublin in March 2023. Picture by: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

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