Amazon is laying off workers in its advertising business: CNBC

Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
-0.43%
on Tuesday started to lay off workers in its advertising unit, CNBC reported, citing a memo to staffers sent by Paul Kotas, senior VP for advertising, IMDb and Grand Challenge. “As Andy (Jassy, CEO) shared a few weeks ago, throughout the 2023 planning process, we’ve been scrupulously prioritizing resources with an eye toward maximizing benefits to customers and the long-term health of our business,” Kotas wrote. “For Ads, this process has involved reallocating resources by shifting team members, slowing down or stopping certain programs, or concluding we didn’t have the right skills in place to address our priorities.” The cuts would impact “a small percentage of our organization,” Kotas added. The layoffs are expected to start in June 20 or July 17 for workers in New York and New Jersey and affected workers will be given the opportunity to search for another role at the company.  It’s uncertain how many people will be affected. Amazon said in March it planned to let go of 9,000 employees, on top of the 18,000 that were announced in November and January, that mostly targeted retail, devices, recruiting and human resources. The stock was down 1.2% premarket but has gained 22% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.09%
has gained 8%.