Amazon announced another round of layoffs, this time affecting employees from its books, Kindle section, and Goodreads review site. The retail giant stated the move has been made to improve efficiency as well as to streamline its operations. Fewer than 100 employees have been affected.
“As part of our ongoing work to make our teams and programs operate more efficiently, and to better align with our business roadmap, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles within the Books organization,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.
Amazon last implemented job cuts as recently as mid-May, when over 100 employees working in the devices and services group were laid off. The affected roles included those working on the Kindle range of e-readers, Echo speakers, and Alexa voice assistant. Additionally, staff from Amazon’s Wondery podcast division, as well as employees from its stores and communications team, were also affected.
CEO Andy Jassy justified the latest round of layoffs, stating that the move was intended to address what he described as an excess of bureaucracy. The cuts include managerial roles, which the company said will improve business efficiency and streamline operations.
Back in 2022, Amazon had laid off 11,000 employees from its Kindle, Fire tablets, Alexa, and Echo Buds divisions. Amazon had then cited that the products were draining its finances by $5 billion annually.
For Amazon, it makes for a tricky proposition – it aims to sell products at cheap rates, often after significant subsidies to undercut the competition. Its strategy is to recover the cost and turn a profit by gaining market share and driving sales of its digital services, such as e-books, audiobooks, and other content.