After layoffs in both Twitter and Meta, employees of yet another company may get the sack in the coming days. According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has initiated a cost-cutting review of the tech giant, and certain ‘unprofitable’ divisions would be suspended or closed.
One of the divisions being ‘closely evaluated’ is the Alexa business unit, the report said, quoting people familiar with the developments. The business unit, responsible for the Alexa voice assistant, employs more than 10,000 people, and is a major recipient of the investment capital.
However, in recent years, the Seattle-headquartered company’s devices unit, which includes Alexa, has seen an operating loss of more than $5 billion a year, the report said, citing internal documents of the Jeff Bezos-founded company.
“Amazon is optimistic about Alexa’s future today, as we’ve ever been, and it remains an important business and area of investment for Amazon,” a spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Jamie Zhang, a software engineer with the Robotics AI division of the world’s largest e-commerce firm, said the entire robotics team was laid off.
“My 1.5 years at Amazon Robotics AI came to an end in a surprising layoff (our entire robotics team was gone!). For the new chapter, I am open to both local (CO) and US remote opportunities. Referral and direct messages are most welcome!” Zhang’s LinkedIn post read.
Last week, employees were informed through an internal memo that the company would freeze hiring in its corporate workforce to deal with an ‘unusual macro-economic environment.’
