Amazon Studios and Prime Video have laid off 100 staffers.
These eliminations, which come out of the approximately 7,000 employees working at Amazon Studios and Prime Video, will be followed by the addition of new roles in areas designated as key for the company’s future growth.
“Like many businesses, we have been closely monitoring economic conditions and our organizational needs, and have made the decision to adjust resources,” an Amazon spokesperson said Thursday. “As a result, a small number of roles will be eliminated on some teams. We will be supporting impacted employees through this transition and thank them for the work they have done on behalf of our customers.”
After a strategic review in March, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced plans to lay off 9,000 more employees — on top of the 18,000 job cuts it previously announced.
At the time, Jassy said the latest round of cuts will mostly affect employees in Amazon Web Services (AWS), People, Experience and Technology (PXT), advertising and Twitch divisions, but that the company’s senior management team expected to make final decisions on which jobs will be eliminated by “mid to late April.”
“This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term,” Jassy wrote.
Jassy said economic “uncertainty” drove the decision to make the latest round of layoffs after several years of Amazon businesses adding “a significant amount of headcount.” As of Dec. 31, 2022, the ecommerce giant had about 1.541 million full-time and part-time employees, up nearly 19% compared with 1.298 million a year prior.
Amazon reported first-quarter earnings Thursday. The company had Q1 revenue of $127.4 billion, up 9% year over year, improving over a 7% rise in the year-earlier quarter but still off its historical pace of top-line growth. Net income was $3.2 billion, or 31 cents per share, compared with anet loss of $3.8 billion in Q1 2022(which included a $7.8 billion loss on its stake in electric-vehicle maker Rivian).
