Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 8: Amazon has cut fewer than 1,000 white-collar jobs in its latest round of layoffs, with most of the affected employees reportedly belonging to its Stores business, according to Reuters.

The job cuts come as Amazon conducts its Prime Big Deal Days shopping event, a two-day promotional sale offering discounts across various product categories.

Amazon confirmed the workforce reductions but did not disclose the exact number of employees affected. The company said it had adjusted parts of its Stores business to better support its priorities.

Amazon's Stores division oversees its main e-commerce platform and includes several business functions. Employees across multiple divisions, including customer service and selling partner services, were reportedly affected. Workers in the US, India and the UK were among those who received layoff notices.

The latest reductions follow a larger workforce restructuring that began last year and continued into January, when Amazon announced plans to eliminate around 30,000 corporate positions.

Amazon's workforce had expanded substantially during the Covid-19 pandemic as consumers increasingly turned to online shopping. The company later began reducing its headcount as shopping patterns changed and it focused on controlling costs.

Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos recently addressed the earlier job cuts in an interview, saying the company had significantly expanded its workforce during the pandemic as demand for online shopping surged.

Bezos said Amazon had hired heavily when people were staying at home and ordering more products online, resulting in a substantial increase in its headcount.

The latest layoffs indicate that Amazon continues to restructure its corporate workforce while its e-commerce operations remain focused on major shopping events such as Prime Big Deal Days.