Alexa division in the firing line as Amazon plots 10,000 jobs cull

In another bleak development for the global media/technology industry, Amazon is poised to start laying off huge swathes of staff this week. The company, which employs around 1.6 million worldwide, will cut around 10,000 jobs, according to the New York Times. This follows 11,000 job cuts at Meta, a major retrenchment at Twitter and substantial restructuring at Walt Disney, Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery.

Jeff Bezos

The news follows Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ warning last week that companies should “batten down the hatches”.

Although the company has yet to comment on the story, the NYT reports that key targets will be the company’s retail and device divisions (the latter is the home of Alexa).

As yet, it is unclear how the cuts might impact on the company’s investment in content, which is used to drive engagement with its Amazon Prime programme.

Amazon spent $13 billion on film, TV and music in 2021 and this year has dropped eye-wateringly expensive Lord of the Rings spin-off The Rings Of Power. Some retrenchment in content investment, combined with an increase in the cost of an Amazon Prime subscription, both seem likely outcomes.