Amazon makes fresh job cuts, mainly in retail division

Business Recorder, citing Reuters, reported that Amazon acknowledged on Wednesday the removal of a limited number of roles, concentrated in its Stores division that operates the core online shopping site. The timing overlapped with Prime Big Deal Days, one of the company's major shopping events, which started Tuesday and continues through Wednesday with rotating discounts. The cuts follow a series of minor reductions after a bigger round of 30,000 corporate positions that began last year and carried into January.

According to a person familiar with the matter, fewer than 1,000 white-collar workers were let go, and Business Insider had reported the layoffs before Amazon's confirmation. Staff in the United States, India and the UK received termination notices, while internal messages pointed to teams handling customer support and seller-facing operations, with other Amazon units possibly affected. A spokesperson explained in an emailed statement that the company had reorganised parts of Stores because the new structure should help it meet its priorities.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and executive chairman, told Fox News in an interview aired Wednesday that further reductions had become necessary. He tied the situation to the pandemic, when people stayed home and ordered far more, and said the company had hired more staff than it required. He also referred to the 30,000 roles lost in the earlier round.