Amazon will lay off more than 18,000 workers

Amazon would cut thousands of jobs in the next few days 0:34

(CNN) --

Amazon says it plans to lay off more than 18,000 employees.

Several departments will be affected, including Amazon Stores and its human resources department, according to a statement from CEO Andy Jassy.

“These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure;

however, I am also optimistic that we will be inventive, resourceful and scrappy at this time when we are not hiring expansively and eliminating some roles," he said.

• Amazon CEO announces job cuts will continue next year

Jassy had said in November that job cuts at the e-commerce giant would continue until early 2023. Several outlets reported in the fall that Amazon had planned to lay off around 10,000 employees.

Amazon and other tech companies have significantly increased hiring in the past two years as the pandemic shifted consumer habits toward e-commerce.

Now many of these seemingly untouchable tech companies are undergoing a sudden turnaround and laying off thousands of workers as people return to pre-pandemic habits and macroeconomic conditions deteriorate.

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Facebook parent Meta recently announced 11,000 cuts, the biggest in the company's history.

Twitter also announced widespread job cuts after Elon Musk bought the company for $44 billion.

Salesforce said this week it would cut 10% of its staff.

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