Amazon Layoffs: No Companywide Note Yet, But Alexa And Luna Teams Informed, Says Report

Amazon started laying off employees in several divisions even as no companywide communication about the layoffs has been distributed yet, causing "frustration" among workers, a new report revealed. It was reported Monday that the Washington-based tech giant is looking to cut about 10,000 jobs this week.

As of midday Tuesday, the e-commerce company had not sent a companywide note about the reported layoffs, CNBC reported. The outlet cited one person with knowledge of the matter as saying that the lack of communication from the company resulted in frustration among employees.

However, Amazon has informed people at its Alexa and Luna cloud gaming unit that they were losing their jobs, according to LinkedIn posts from workers who revealed that they were let go, according to CNBC.

The layoffs are expected to affect Amazon's retail and human resources division as well, the New York Times reported Monday, and while some 10,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs, the "total number of layoffs remains fluid," according to the outlet.

"Due to the nature of my visa, I have limited time to lookout for new work opportunities," one software development engineer said in one of the LinkedIn posts of affected employees that were seen by BBC.

A Seattle-based technology industry insider who spoke to BBC anonymously said, "Amazon is very, very bloated," further explaining that while there are so many employees in the company, "they're not providing a lot of value so they're first on the chopping block."

It appears that some of the people to be laid off this week were informed as early as the previous week. One employee from an Amazon analytics team told CNBC-TV18 that one team in his office was informed one week prior to the layoff reports "to remain alert for anything."

Former software engineer at Amazon Jamie Zhang revealed earlier this month that the company's Robotics AI team had been cut off. It is unclear how many employees were working under the robotics team.

Meanwhile, layoffs are also coming to Amazon's Sunnyvale, California, location in January, according to a letter obtained by KRON4. The letter stated that 263 employees will be removed from their jobs starting Jan. 17, KRON4 reported. At least 129 of the job cuts will affect software or hardware development engineers.

The layoffs come after Amazon previously announced that it would hire 150,000 temporary workers during the holiday shopping season.