Amazon and Salesforce to cut 25,000 staff in total

US-based tech giants Amazon and Salesforce have officially announced their respective plans to lay off thousands of employees.

Both companies admitted that past aggressive hiring strategies and the current economic downturn were among the main factors leading to the layoffs.

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In his letter to employees, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that the company will eliminate more than 18,000 roles in total.

Most of the reductions come from Amazon stores and its HR unit called People, Experience, and Technology. In November 2022, the ecommerce giant announced the first wave of layoffs, which reportedly affected 10,000 people.

Jassy noted that the changes will help Amazon to pursue long-term opportunities with a “stronger cost structure” and that the company will be “inventive, resourceful, and scrappy in this time.”

Meanwhile, Salesforce plans to lay off 10% of its headcount. The cloud software firm’s LinkedIn page shows that it has more than 73,000 employees, so the decision may affect more than 7,000 people.

See also: Tracking layoffs across Asia’s startup ecosystem

Below are the letters from Amazon’s Jassy and Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff in full.

Amazon Layoff Letter by TIA on Scribd

Salesforce Layoff Letter by TIA on Scribd