Amazon reportedly plans to lay off 10,000 employees

SEATTLE — Seattle-based Amazon is reportedly planning to lay off around 10,000 workers.

The New York Times reports the largest layoffs in the company’s history could start this week and that the job cuts are focused on devices, the retail division and human resources.

A Wednesday blog post from Amazon senior vice president of devices and services, Dave Limp, said some roles in the department would no longer be required and that employees were notified on Tuesday. However, the post did not say how many employees across the company would lose their jobs.

The company did not respond to KIRO 7′s request for information about the impact in Seattle and Bellevue.

Amazon’s reported layoffs follow others in the tech industry, including Facebook parent company Meta, which filed paperwork with the state about more than 700 layoffs coming in Seattle and Bellevue.

“This is a moment in time where they’re saying to themselves, OK, we’re going to cut our losses on some of these projects we’re working on and focus on our core business,” said Jacob Vigdor, an economist at the University of Washington.

Vigdor said it was important to note that Amazon’s cuts appear targeted, not across-the-board, and that Amazon grew from 53,000 to more than 75,000 Seattle-area workers in three years.

“It’s really just equivalent of them stepping back a year or so in terms of how many people they employ,” Vigdor said.

Vigdor said it’s not yet clear if laid-off tech workers will have trouble finding new jobs.

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