US technology giant Amazon has confirmed it will cut 16,000 jobs - hours after it told staff about a new round of global redundancies in an email apparently sent in error.
The email, which has been seen by the BBC, was sent late on Tuesday and refers to a swathe of employees in the US, Canada, and Costa Rica having been laid off as part of an effort to strengthen the company. The message was apparently shared by mistake, as it was quickly cancelled.
Early on Wednesday, Amazon announced job reductions as part of a plan to remove bureaucracy at the firm. Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, stated that the company does not plan to make broad reductions every few months, referring to the prior announcement of 14,000 job cuts in October. While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now, she explained.
On Tuesday, a draft email written by Colleen Aubrey, a senior vice president at Amazon Web Services (AWS), was included in a calendar invitation sent by an executive assistant to a number of Amazon workers, titled Send project Dawn email, an apparent reference to Amazon's code name for the job cuts.
While the email made clear that layoffs were happening at Amazon, employees had not yet been officially informed. According to the email, this initiative continues work over the past year to strengthen the company by reducing layers and increasing ownership. The 16,000 job cuts had been broadly expected by Amazon employees, with the company predicting a total of around 30,000 roles might eventually be cut.
Since 2022, major tech companies have witnessed massive layoffs, with an estimated 700,000 tech workers laid off across the sector. Amazon's latest cuts come as the company seeks to reduce costs through various means, including mandatory in-office work five days a week for its employees.
