---
title: Amazon set for largest layoffs in company history
description: From a billionaire’s charitable pledge to impending layoffs, what happened?
---

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# [Amazon set for largest layoffs in company history](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/11152022-amazon-layoffs)

 Written by [Jacob Cohen](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/jacob-cohen) | Nov 15, 2022 8:44:34 AM

Yesterday, we had planned on using this space to write about Amazon’s massive, under-the-radar advertising business.

As the day progressed — plans changed.

#### **Early yesterday morning…**

… CNN dropped an [interview](https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/14/business/jeff-bezos-charity) with Jeff Bezos in which he committed to giving away the majority of his $124B fortune.

- Bezos — who’s pledged $10B to climate causes over 10 years — has been criticized for being philanthropically sparing. His ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, for instance, has doled out ~$4B to 465 organizations in less than a year.

Still, Bezos’ pledge was positive — which is why the next chunk of news felt particularly stark.

#### **“Amazon said to plan to lay off thousands”**

Reporting from *The New York Times* [found](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/technology/amazon-layoffs.html) some 10k corporate employees —  ~3% of its corporate workforce — could be cut this week, primarily from Amazon’s devices, retail, and HR units.

- Last week, Amazon [became](https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/amazon-is-the-first-company-ever-to-lose-1-trillion-in-value/) the first public company to ever lose $1T+ in value, dipping to $879B from its peak of $1.88T in July 2021. (It’s now back to ~$1T.)

The layoffs would be CEO Andy Jassy’s latest cost-cutting measure. Following a period of explosive growth, Amazon has scaled back on warehouse expansions and home delivery robots, sunset Fabric.com, and frozen hiring.

**On Twitter,** while many celebrated Bezos’ charitable morning announcements, some were quick to point out the fishy timing before the layoff news. “Chef’s kiss billionaire/media behavior,” one user [wrote](https://twitter.com/jackmirkinson/status/1592189972030767104).

[View full post](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/11152022-amazon-layoffs)

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