Amazon Web Services announced on Wednesday that it has implemented significant workforce reductions, affecting hundreds of roles in sales, marketing, and technology. This move is part of a broader trend of job cuts within Amazon.com (AMZN.O), its parent company.
The impacted employees include several hundred individuals from AWS’ sales, marketing, and global services division, as well as from the physical stores technology team, the cloud-computing arm of Amazon disclosed.
“We’ve identified specific areas within the organization that require streamlining,” stated an AWS spokesperson via email.
Amazon has been undergoing a period of downsizing across various divisions in recent months, including its Prime Video service, healthcare business, and Alexa voice assistant unit. This trend aligns with the broader tech industry’s ongoing job cuts, which have extended into 2024. Layoffs.fyi, a tracking website, reports that more than 57,000 workers have been laid off across 229 companies thus far this year.
Following a surge in hiring during the pandemic, Amazon had previously laid off over 27,000 employees between 2022 and 2023.
The reductions within AWS’ 60,000-strong sales, marketing, and global services division are believed to be part of a larger restructuring effort led by sales chief Matt Garman. This information was first reported by news site The Information.
Despite a period of slowed growth in the previous year due to economic uncertainty, Amazon’s cloud business has demonstrated signs of stabilization, contributing to the company’s ability to surpass quarterly revenue expectations in February.
