Daisy Watts 
Jan 11, 2024
The American e-commerce giant Amazon is going to lay off hundreds of employees at its subsidiaries Twitch, Prime Video and MGM Studios.
As per a statement released by chief executive Dan Clancy, the layoff wave will target around a thousand employees in total, out of which 500 will be laid off from Twitch. Meanwhile, several hundred more will lose their jobs from Prime Video and Amazon’s film studio MGM.
Earlier in 2023, more than 27,000 employees were laid off even after the company was making tremendous profits, as reported by BBC.
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Bought by Amazon in 2014 for $970m at the time, Twitch initially meant and served as a platform to watch and share video gameplay for enthusiasts.
In a message to staff, Mr Clancy, Amazon CEO, announced his decision to cut the workforce, describing it as a "painful step to reduce our headcount" to "build a more sustainable business." He mentioned that the company disbursed $1 billion to streamers in 2023, but had "conservative predictions of how we expect to grow in the future."
The email further noted that job cuts will affect employees around the world.
According to the latest earnings report, Amazon recorded a profit of $9.9 billion in the July to September period, a significant increase from $2.9 billion during the same timeframe in 2022.
In an email addressed to employees at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, the senior vice president of the department, Mike Hopkins, stated, "We've identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investments and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact."
As per the findings of Gray & Christmas, the US career consultancy Challenger, the overall job cuts recorded in the tech industry in 2023 were 168,032, indicating an increase of 73% compared to 2022.
