Amazon set to lay off 10,000 employees as reductions mount: NYT

Quick Take

  • Amazon said it will reduce staff by 10,000 personnel in what would be the greatest number people the company has ever laid off at once.
  • The layoffs come as a number of tech companies restructure in uncertain markets.

Amazon is on the verge of cutting 10,000 positions in what would be the company’s largest mass-firing, representing around 3% of corporate and 1% of global employees, The New York Times reported, citing a person familiar.

The e-commerce giant is trimming in departments including human resources, device organization, Alexa voice assistant. The company’s retail arm may begin to see staff reductions this week, a source close to the matter told the Times. The exact number of employees to be laid off remains subject to change.

November has seen a number of technology and crypto sector companies making cuts amid general economic downturns.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently purged 11,000 jobs, 13% of the company’s manpower, on the heels of news that the company’s metaverse division was operating at a $9.4 billion deficit. Zuckerberg took personal responsibility for the cuts.

In the upheaval of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, the company also saw massive layoffs, with 50% of the workforce slashed.

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And at least 60 recruiting and onboarding positions at Coinbase were eliminated.

More cuts include:

  • Blockchain gaming developer Mythical Games also tightened its belt to release 10% of its workforce just after top executives, Rudy Koch, Chris Ko and Matt Nutt said they would depart from the firm.
  • For payments firm Stripe, founders Patrick and John Collison bore responsibility for layoffs that affected up to 14% of the company’s workforce, saying that the company had overhired.
  • Dapper Labs reduced staff by 22% as NFT sales slumped, down 25% in volume between September and October, CryptoSlam said.
  • Galaxy Digital is set to let go between 15% and 20% of staff as the company faces “macroeconomic headwinds.”

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About Author

Jeremy Nation is a senior reporter at The Block covering the greater blockchain ecosystem. Prior to joining The Block, Jeremy worked as a product content specialist at Bullish and Block.one. He also served as a reporter for ETHNews. Follow him on Twitter @ETH_Nation.

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