After Twitter, Meta, and Microsoft, Amazon has now started layoffs. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Amazon Inc. is reviewing its non-profitable businesses. The company is doing this to cut costs amid the growing economic slowdown.
According to the report, Amazon is closely evaluating its Alexa business. Amazon is considering whether it should try adding new capabilities to the voice assistant. The report also said that adding the capabilities will require more investment for the company and that many customers use the device only for certain tasks.
According to an internal memo sent to a top Amazon executive, the company also announced a hiring freeze last week. At the same time, Jamie Zhang, a software engineer working at Amazon, shared his connection post on LinkedIn and told that he has been fired from the company.
The former employee told in the post that the entire robotics team has been fired. According to LinkedIn data, the company's robotics division has more than 3,500 employees. However, there has been no statement from Amazon regarding the layoffs so far.
The Wall Street Journal report also said that the company has asked employees working in some of its unprofitable units to find jobs elsewhere. This is because many of the company's projects may be closed, or suspended soon.
The company's senior vice president of people experience and technology, Beth Galetti, said in the memo that despite the hiring freeze, there will be new hiring for "targeted projects" as well as replacements for employees who have left the company on their own.
"We are facing an unusual macroeconomic environment," the note said. Amidst this environment, we want to balance our hiring and investments. This is not the first time, we have faced challenging economies many times before.
