Amazon on Tuesday began laying off some employees in its advertising as part of CEO Andy Jassy’s efforts to rein in costs, the company confirmed.
Paul Kotas, senior vice president of advertising for Amazon, IMDb and Grand Challenge, sent a letter to employees announcing the layoffs, according to a copy of the memo shared by an Amazon spokesperson. .
“As Andy shared a few weeks ago, throughout the 2023 planning process, we carefully prioritized resources to maximize the benefits for our customers and the long-term health of our business. me,” Kotas wrote. “For Ads, this involves reallocating resources by changing team members, slowing down or stopping certain programs, or concluding that we don’t have the right skills. tailored to address our priorities, we have therefore made well-thought-out decisions about how best to move forward, leading to the removal of a role for a small percentage of the our organization.”
It’s not clear how many people are being given away by the advertiser. Jassy last month announced Amazon will lay off 9,000 employees, on top of the 18,000 cuts announced in November and January last year. The previous cuts were mainly focused on retail, equipment, recruitment and human resources groups.
In March, Jassy said the latest round would affect employees in Amazon’s advertising, cloud, Twitch streaming, and human resources divisions. Earlier this month, about 100 employees was also fired in Amazon’s video game business.
Amazon is experiencing the biggest layoff in its 29-year history after hiring massively in recent times. Covid pandemic. The company’s global workforce grew to more than 1.6 million by the end of 2021, up from 798,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Jassy is also looking at an overview of the company’s costs as it takes into account the economic downturn and slowing growth in its core retail business. Amazon froze the company’s workforce hiring, cut some test projects and slowed warehouse expansion.
By announcing layoffs in Amazon’s advertising and Web Services businesses, Jassy showed that two of Amazon’s largest and most profitable businesses are not immune to cost-cutting. .
Here’s the full memo from Kotas:
Hi everybody,
I want to share that this morning we took the difficult step of notifying Amazon Ads team members who have been impacted by role cuts in the US and Canada. In other regions, we are complying with local policies that require additional processing time and steps, including consultation with employee representatives. We will contact affected employees in other regions in accordance with those policies and deadlines. We realize that this news is important to all of our team members and therefore wanted to give you additional context on both the decision to remove the role and how we support it. his affected colleagues.
As Andy shared a few weeks ago, throughout the 2023 planning process, we carefully prioritized resources to maximize the benefits for our customers and the long-term health of our business. I. For Ads, this involves reallocating resources by changing team members, slowing or stopping certain programs, or concluding that we don’t have the right skills to solve problems. decide your priorities. As a result, we made well-thought-out decisions about how best to move forward, which resulted in the removal of a role for a small percentage of our organization.
It is important that I acknowledge and thank our affected colleagues for the work they have done on behalf of Amazon Ads customers. Our immediate focus is on supporting our team members through this difficult transition, and to achieve this goal, employees who have been removed from the role will have an individual follow-up meeting. Multiply with a leader on their team to explain next steps. Affected people will receive full wages and benefits for the next 60 days (90 days if in New York and New Jersey), along with an additional severance package and job placement assistance to help them. find your next role outside of Amazon.
Looking ahead, I remain very optimistic about the opportunities ahead, even in an uncertain economic environment. We’ve built a solid foundation, and I’m personally excited by the invention and construction going on in our organization. I also want to thank each of you for showing empathy and support during this time. Please contact your team leader or MyHR with any questions.
Paul
