Amazon announced a significant reduction in its global workforce, with over 500 employees in India, and expects to cut 16,000 roles worldwide. India will be majorly affected by this action; however, it is expected to split it evenly between the commerce operations and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Earlier in October, Amazon eliminated nearly 14,000 roles worldwide; this time, they will follow a similar exercise. Taken together, the two rounds amount to approximately 30,000 job losses, or nearly 10 per cent of the company’s global staff, marking the largest downsizing in Amazon’s history.
Amazon has employed around 130,000 people from India across its e-commerce, cloud, and corporate functions. According to some sources, the major layoffs are due to weak performance in the e-commerce business in recent months. This is particularly evident in the last three sales events, during which the company lost to its rival Flipkart in transaction volume.
The impact of AWS is largely driven by the nature of work performed in India. A major part of the India-based employees support global teams and leadership roles. “When a global role is eliminated, the corresponding support roles in India are also affected”, said the person familiar with the matter. Additionally, some employees may be redeployed internally depending on the requirements and skill alignment.
In a post announcing layoffs, Amazon said, “We have been working to strengthen our organisation by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.”
“While many teams finalised their organisational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now,” the company said.
The latest round of cuts highlights the pressure technology companies face to reduce costs amid slowing growth and shifting business priorities.
