Business & Finance
Amazon Announces Small‑Scale Store Division Layoffs Amid Ongoing Restructuring
Amazon has announced another round of job cuts that will affect fewer than 1,000 white‑collar employees, mainly within its Stores division that manages the company’s core e‑commerce operations. The layoffs were announced during the company’s annual Prime Big Deal Days shopping event, which began on October 6. Reuters reports that these cuts are part of a series of smaller workforce reductions that have followed a larger restructuring program that eliminated about 30,000 jobs beginning last year and continuing into January. The company said it had adjusted parts of its Stores business to better align with its priorities. Employees in the United States, India and the United Kingdom were reportedly among those receiving layoff notices. Internal Slack posts shared with Reuters indicate that the layoffs may have affected multiple teams within the Stores organization, including customer service and selling partner services, and that other Amazon units may also have seen cuts. An Amazon spokesperson said the reorganization was intended to improve execution and better support strategic priorities and described the number of affected employees as small. The latest cuts come as large technology companies continue to reassess staffing levels and spending plans amid growing investments in artificial intelligence and automation. Amazon has been making periodic reductions across various teams in recent months rather than undertaking another large‑scale company‑wide layoff. In a separate interview with Fox News, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said the e‑commerce company had been forced to trim jobs after expanding too aggressively during the pandemic‑driven e‑commerce boom, noting that the company increased its headcount significantly during that period.