Amazon Layoffs Will Continue Until 2023; Thousands Expected To Lose Jobs

Amazon is expected to continue laying off corporate workers until next year, its chief executive officer Andy Jassy said in his first remarks since the company began cutting jobs this week.

"I've been in this role now for about a year and a half, and without a doubt, this is the most difficult decision we've made during that time (and, we've had to make some very tough calls over the past couple of years, particularly during the heart of the pandemic)," Jassy wrote in a memo to workers Thursday.

Amazon aims to let go of about 10,000 employees, though the total number of impacted workers has not yet been determined, an unnamed source familiar with the matter previously told CNBC.

The company has been cutting costs in various areas of its business in the past few months. It is undergoing an annual review process to figure out where it can save more money.

Jassy said Amazon is extending the annual operating planning process into 2023, which could lead to more job cuts as the company continues to make adjustments.

"Those decisions will be shared with impacted employees and organizations early in 2023," he wrote. "We haven't concluded yet exactly how many other roles will be impacted (we know that there will be reductions in our Stores and [People, Experience and Technology] organizations), but each leader will communicate to their respective teams when we have the details nailed down."

Jassy said in his memo that the management is offering severance packages for employees who will voluntarily leave the company. The details of the package were not publicly provided.

The CEO noted that the mass layoffs came as their operations are experiencing difficulties "due to the fact that the economy remains in a challenging spot and we've hired rapidly the last several years."

Amazon has more than 330,000 corporate and tech workers around the globe, The Washington Post reported.

In October, Amazon announced that it returned to profitability in the third quarter following two consecutive quarters of losses this year, but revenues still missed analysts' expectations.

On top of the news of lower-than-expected third-quarter earnings, the New York Times reported that Amazon is predicting "a slower growth period" in the fourth quarter.

The company also forecasts that a strong U.S. dollar performance will continue to depress international sales, especially during the holiday shopping season.

Amazon joined other companies like Meta and Twitter in implementing job cuts.

Meta, which is owned by Mark Zuckerberg, said it was laying off more than 11,000 of its employees, representing 13% of the workforce.

Meta's investors were spooked about the company's rising expenses and declining overall sales, as Zuckerberg heavily invested in the metaverse.

Elon Musk, who recently acquired Twitter, began laying off 7,500 workers. The billionaire said he had to reduce the social media platform's workforce as the company loses $4 million a day.