Amazon Plans to Lay Off More Than 18,000 Employees

- Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy announced on Thursday plans to lay off more than 18,000 employees across several departments, including retail and human resources. Jassy stated in a statement that "companies that endure for a long time go through different phases."

The Amazon CEO had said in November that the layoffs at the e-commerce giant would continue into early 2023. Multiple media outlets reported in the fall that Amazon planned to lay off around 10,000 employees.

Amazon and other tech companies significantly ramped up hiring over the past two years as the COVID-19 pandemic shifted consumer habits towards e-commerce. Now, many tech companies are facing an economic crisis and are laying off thousands of employees as people return to pre-pandemic habits and economic conditions deteriorate.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, recently announced the layoff of 11,000 employees, marking the largest layoff in the company's history. Twitter also announced significant layoffs after Elon Musk acquired the company for $44 billion.