Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in his first public remarks since the company began widespread layoffs earlier this week that job cuts would continue into early next year.
“As leaders continue to make adjustments, our annual planning process will extend into the new year,” Jassy wrote in a letter to employees on Thursday. “Those decisions will be communicated to affected employees and organizations in early 2023.”
The company hasn’t “decided yet exactly how many other roles will be impacted,” according to Jassy, but “each leader will communicate to their respective teams when we have the details nailed down.”
Amazon confirmed layoffs had begun on Wednesday, just days after multiple outlets reported the e-commerce giant planned to lay off around 10,000 workers this week.
Amazon (AMZN) and other tech firms have significantly increased hiring in recent years as the pandemic has shifted consumer habits toward e-commerce. As people return to pre-pandemic habits and macroeconomic conditions deteriorate, many of these seemingly untouchable tech companies are experiencing whiplash and laying off thousands of employees.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, recently announced 11,000 job cuts, the most in the company’s history. Twitter, which Elon Musk purchased for $44 billion, also announced widespread job cuts.
In his memo on Thursday, Jassy alluded to the macroeconomic environment, saying that this year’s annual operating review “is more difficult due to the fact that the economy remains in a challenging spot and we’ve hired rapidly the last several years.”
According to Jassy, this is the most difficult decision the company has had to make in his year-and-a-half tenure as CEO of Amazon.
“It’s not lost on me or any of the leaders who make these decisions that these aren’t just roles we’re getting rid of, but people with emotions, ambitions, and responsibilities whose lives will be impacted,” Jassy wrote.
