Amazon cuts hundreds of jobs in cloud computing unit

Amazon‘s cloud computing division is laying off hundreds of employees in its physical stores technology and sales and marketing units, the company confirmed Wednesday.

“We’ve identified a few targeted areas of the organization we need to streamline in order to continue focusing our efforts on the key strategic areas that we believe will deliver maximum impact,” an Amazon Web Services spokesperson said in a statement. “We didn’t make these decisions lightly, and we’re committed to supporting the employees throughout their transition to new roles in and outside of Amazon.”

The cuts were first reported by GeekWire.

Amazon’s lucrative AWS unit has seen its sales growth decelerate in recent quarters as companies trimmed their cloud spend amid rising interest rates. Amazon executives expressed some optimism in February when they said the market is starting to show signs of a reacceleration.

The cuts to AWS’ store technology team come after Amazon said it would remove cashierless checkout systems in its U.S. Fresh stores. The AWS unit includes teams overseeing the cashierless tech, called Just Walk Out, as well as its Dash smart carts and Amazon One palm-based payment technology. The store technology team was moved out of Amazon’s retail group and folded into its cloud computing division in 2022.

The AWS spokesperson said the company decided to make cuts to the store technology division “as a result of a broader strategic shift in the use of some applications in Amazon’s owned as well as in third-party stores.”

Amazon continues to trim its headcount after more than a year of mass layoffs. Beginning at the end of 2022 and continuing through 2023, Amazon initiated the largest layoffs in its history, cutting more than 27,000 jobs across almost every area of the company. So far this year, Amazon has laid off employees in its Twitch, Audible, Buy with Prime, and Prime Video and MGM Studios units.

Employees in the U.S. will continue to receive their pay and benefits for at least 60 days, and they will be eligible for a severance package.