America's technology and e-commerce giant Amazon has started reducing its spending amid the growing economic slowdown. In view of this, the company has started the process of cutting jobs. Meanwhile, Dave Limp, the company's hardware chief, wrote a letter to workers on Wednesday. It said that after conducting several rounds of reviews, we have recently decided to reorganize some teams and programs. One result of these decisions is that some roles will no longer be needed.

He said that I am very sad to give this news. We know that we will lose a talented Amazonian from Devices and Services Org as a result of this. The company has notified affected employees. We will continue to work closely with each individual to provide further support, including helping them find new roles.

Earlier, news agency ANI quoted the New York Times (NYT) report as saying that the company may lay off 10,000 employees as soon as possible. If the total number of layoffs stays around 10,000, it will be the largest layoff in Amazon's history. However, this is less than one percent of the company's workforce, as Amazon employs over 1.6 million people globally. The job cuts would be focused on Amazon's devices unit, which includes voice-assistant Alexa, and its retail and human resources divisions, the report said.

Amazon's growth slowed to the lowest rate in two decades after experiencing the most profitable time on record during the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report said. There was a spurt in online shopping by consumers during the pandemic. After Twitter, Meta and Microsoft, Amazon has become the latest tech company to drastically cut its workforce to deal with a possible economic downturn. Last week, Elon Musk cut his workforce by nearly 50 per cent after completing the Twitter deal. Facebook's parent company Meta also laid off 11,000 workers to cut costs.

Activist investor TCI Fund Management had asked Google's parent company Alphabet to reduce its workforce, which would reduce costs. The investor, who has held a six billion stake in Alphabet since 2017, has told the company that the company has too many employees and the cost per employee is too high.