Amazon is now reviewing its Alexa virtual assistant-driven business as part of a major cost-cutting exercise headed by CEO Andy Jassy…reports Asian Lite News
Amazon is reportedly planning to lay off approximately 10,000 of its workforce in corporate and technology roles beginning this week, a media reported.
According to The New York Times, the cuts will target Amazon’s devices organisation, which includes the voice assistant Alexa, as well as its retail division and human resources.
Amazon is now reviewing its Alexa virtual assistant-driven business as part of a major cost-cutting exercise headed by CEO Andy Jassy, the media reported.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon’s entire devices unit has had an operating loss exceeding $5 billion in some recent years.
Amazon is now looking into whether it should “focus on trying to add new capabilities to Alexa,” according to the report.
The cost-cutting review includes the devices unit with Alexa, a voice assistant available on a variety of Amazon devices.
“The business has more than 10,000 employees and is a major recipient of investment capital,” according to the report.
It appears that the e-commerce giant is considering reducing its investments in Alexa-driven products.
The total number of layoffs is yet to be determined, but if it is around 10,000, it would represent about 3 per cent of Amazon’s corporate employees and less than 1 per cent of its global workforce of more than 1.5 million, which is primarily composed of hourly workers, said the report.
Amazon will also become the latest technology company to lay off employees, which only recently, it had been fighting to retain.
Earlier this year, the e-commerce giant more than doubled the cash compensation cap for its tech employees, citing “a particularly competitive labour market”, according to the report.
Changing business models and an uncertain economy have resulted in layoffs across the tech industry.
Elon Musk cut Twitter’s headcount in half after purchasing the company earlier this month, and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced last week that it was laying off 11,000 employees, or roughly 13 per cent of its workforce.
Moreover, many Indian startups have laid off hundreds of employees in the wake of a decline in funding and investment, including Byju’s, Ola and Unacademy.
