E-commerce giant Amazon has announced it plans to cut over 18,000 jobs.
The company began letting staff go last November from its devices' division.
In a note to employees on Thursday, its chief executive Andy Jassy said the outcome of "further reviews" has resulted in the "difficult decision to eliminate additional roles."
He said the majority of cuts would be in Amazon Stores, which is a catch-all name for the consumer retail organisation - including online stores.
The layoff decisions will be communicated to those affected from January 18th.
The cuts amount to 6% of the company's roughly 300,000-person corporate workforce.
'Leaked information'
It represents a swift turn for a retailer that recently doubled its base pay ceiling to compete more aggressively for talent.
Amazon has more than 1.5 million employees around the world - with soaring inflation prompting consumers and businesses to cut back on expenditure.
Mr Jassy said in the note that annual planning "has been more difficult given the uncertain economy" and the company has "hired rapidly over the last several years."
He added that while the company normally waits to communicate with people who are directly affected, leaked information externally meant "it was better to share this news earlier."
Irish operations
It is unclear how Irish operations may be affected by any redundancies.
Amazon currently employs some 5,000 people here.
Last September, it opened its first Irish fulfilment centre at Baldonnell Business Park.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar officially opens Amazon's new fulfilment centre in Dublin. He unveiled a plaque and took a tour of the 630,000 square foot warehouse - https://t.co/atiwpqlZeR #AmazonIreland @AmazonNewsEU pic.twitter.com/0ZDd2iNbNw
— Jack Quann (@jqbilbao) October 18, 2022
The warehouse created 500 new jobs and sees items packed and shipped to customers across Ireland and the rest of Europe.
Amazon first opened an office in Ireland back in September 2004, and this was followed in April 2006 with a Customer Service Centre in Cork.
In November 2007, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched its first infrastructure region outside of the US in Ireland.
It also owns a number of wind farms here that help to power its Irish data centres.
Additional reporting: IRN
