Amazon.com is laying off employees in its devices and services units, the second-largest US private employer told its staff on Wednesday after recent reports it would cut some 10,000 jobs.
The e-commerce giant did not share details about the number of jobs it will cut or a period of time. Its shares were down 3%.
However, the announcement was a sea change for a company known for creating jobs, in the latest layoffs in the technology sector.
The reduction affects the device division that popularized speakers that consumers interact with by voice.
The retailer once set out to make Alexa – its device-powering voice assistant – ubiquitous and used to place any purchase order, though it was unclear to what extent users have embraced it for more complex tasks than checking. the news or the weather.
Some media, such as Reutersreported on Monday that the cuts would amount to 3% of the company’s approximately 300,000 employees, without affecting warehouse and transportation employees.
Some people who work at Alexa reported on LinkedIn Tuesday that they had lost their jobs. The unit in charge of the virtual assistant, a project inspired by a talking computer from the science fiction series Star Trek, reached 10,000 workers in 2019.
At the time, Amazon touted the sale of more than 100 million Alexa devices, a figure it hasn’t publicly updated since. Its founder, Jeff Bezos, later said that the company often sold Alexa devices at a discount and sometimes below cost.
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