Amazon's Chief Executive Andy Jassy announced on Wednesday that the retail giant plans to cut more than 18,000 jobs under the pretext of economic uncertainty and that the company hired too rapidly during the pandemic. 

He said the announcement was made suddenly "because one of our teammates leaked this information externally."

"Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we're sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles," said CEO Andy Jassy in a statement to his employees, adding that the company was "deeply aware that these role eliminations are difficult for people, and we don’t take these decisions lightly."

"This year's review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we've hired rapidly over the last several years," Jassy said, noting that "Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so." 

Amazon did in fact hire workers in large numbers during the pandemic due to the extremely high demand for deliveries at the beginning of 2020 and 2022.

"We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support," he said.

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While impacted workers are expected to receive a notice by January 18, Jassy said most of the layoffs would be in Europe. 

Just two months ago, the company announced it laid off 10,000 workers. 

By the end of September, the E-commerce giant had about 1.54 million employees worldwide, excluding seasonal workers. 

By far, this is Amazon's most brutal job-cutting plan that has ever affected the US tech sector in its entire history. 

The entire statement is questionable considering that Amazon does in fact have the money to pay its workers, but it refuses to do so because of corporate greed and the absence of unions to protect the workers. 

Last year, the non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) reported in February that the company recorded profits of more than $35 billion (75% higher than its 2020 record haul) and paid just 6% of those profits in federal corporate income taxes.

It further said that if Amazon had no tax breaks, it would have paid 21% of its profits in corporate income taxes, or more than $7.3 billion. Instead, it paid $2.1 billion.

In the third quarter of last year, Amazon saw its net profit drop by 9% YOY. 

In the last quarter, the company expected between 2 and 8% of growth over one year.

It also anticipated generating net profits between 0 and 4 billion dollars, against 3.5 recorded in the previous year. 

By February 1 this year, the company will announce its annual results. 

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