Amazon lays off several employees in Books division to improve efficiency and align with new business strategy
Amazon, the company that began its journey as an online bookseller, is now laying off employees from its very own Books division – a twist of irony that hasn't gone unnoticed. Amazon laid off several more employees from its Books division on Thursday. This includes workers from Amazon's Goodreads review site and Kindle units. According to a report by Reuters, the latest layoffs have affected 'fewer than 100 workers'. advertisementAmazon says that the job cuts have been done to streamline operations and improve efficiency. "As part of our ongoing work to make our teams and programs operate more efficiently, and to better align with our business roadmap, we've made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles within the Books organisation," an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters.The layoffs are part of a broader pattern of staggered job cuts across the tech giant. In recent months, teams across devices and services, the Wondery podcast arm, and even the stores and communications departments have all been affected. Last month, Amazon laid off 100 employees from its devices and services unit. "A small number" of jobs at its Wondery podcast unit were cut in February this year.
In January 2025, Amazon had cut a few jobs in its communications unit saying that it would help the company move faster. "These decisions are never easy, but they are necessary to help us move faster, increase ownership, and strengthen our culture while bringing our teams closer to customers. We are committed to supporting the employees affected during this transition," an Amazon spokesperson had said.advertisementThe latest one would be the fourth round of jobs cuts that Amazon has conducted this year. While currently, the company has been laying off only in 'small numbers', Amazon's largest wave of job cuts occurred in 2022, which affected 27,000 corporate roles across different departments. According to a report by Financial Express, in 2025, Amazon is preparing to slash around 14,000 managerial roles as part of a broader plan to streamline operations and reduce expenses. The proposed cuts represent roughly 13 per cent of the company's global managerial staff and are aimed at boosting overall efficiency across departments. Once the reductions are in place, the number of managers at the tech giant is expected to fall from 1,05,770 to approximately 91,936, as per the report. At the heart of these cuts is CEO Andy Jassy's push to strip down what he views as an overly complex management structure. He's focused on slashing layers of bureaucracy, particularly by trimming middle-management roles in a bid to make Amazon more nimble and cost-efficient.Interestingly, despite the layoffs, Reuters notes that Amazon did see a modest headcount increase of about 4,000 employees in the first quarter of this year compared to the end of 2024, according to a company disclosure.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Critical minerals will remain a problem in US-China talks. These industries are at risk.
Critical minerals will likely remain a source of leverage for Beijing in trade talks with the U.S., even if President Donald Trump's Thursday call with Xi Jinping speeds up the flow of rare earths to feed auto, industrial and other supply chains. The issue dates back to early April, when China imposed restrictions on exports of the metals as part of its retaliation against Trump's imposition of tariffs of up to 145% on its exports to the U.S. In mid May, after negotiators met in Geneva, the U.S. said China had agreed to lift the restrictions as the countries agreed to a 90-day pause on levies that were choking off trade between them. The problem is that while China is allowing exports of rare earths, used in magnets that go into automobiles, for example, companies that want to export them need licenses. Companies say they aren't easy to get, though Reuters reported on Friday that Beijing had granted temporary licenses to suppliers of the big three U.S. auto makers. Its report cited people familiar with the matter. A spokesperson from the Chinese embassy said he wasn't aware of the situation specifically related to the licensing, reiterating that the export control measures are in line with international common practices, nondiscriminatory, and not targeted at specific countries. While only a fraction of the members of the American Chamber of Commerce in China—mostly technology and industrial companies—were affected by rare-earth export restrictions, three-quarters of those said their supplies would run out within three months, according to a survey from the trade group. While the survey found that Chinese suppliers to U.S. companies had recently been granted six-month export licenses, they noted continued uncertainty because there is a large backlog of license applications. Gracelin Baskaran, a mining economist and director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said about 25% of licenses applied for have been given out, but that they aren't being processed fast enough. Part of that is due to the administrative task. China is the source of 100% of the rare-earth processing capability in the world, so it is issuing licenses for exports not just to the U.S., but for many other countries. But it could also be part of the negotiations. 'China has made it very clear it's not satisfied with the 90-day tariff pause and looking for a more durable solution to the tariff conundrum," said Baskaran, noting the deflationary impact of the tariffs on China's economy. 'It's not in their incentive to give out licenses quickly as their economy is in a downward spiral. These licenses are their leverage." The U.S. had been the dominant rare-earth producer until the 1990s, but China steadily took market share, ramping up production to levels that made it unprofitable for others, forcing them out, Baskaran said. A similar phenomenon is currently under way in nickel, she U.S. has been producing rare earths in California and is building out separation and processing capabilities, with companies like MP Materials boosting their refining abilities. 'It's a perfectly solvable problem and one the U.S. is working at warp speed to address," Baskaran said. 'It's not a forever problem." That said, it could continue be a source of pain, leaving the U.S. vulnerable in talks with China. An array of industries reliant on these critical minerals, from autos to electronics, semiconductors, and defense, are likely to suffer. Write to Reshma Kapadia at
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
US investment firm Artisan Partners to liquidate China portfolio by end-June
Firm says liquidation comes amid uncertain geopolitical environment Spokesperson says Hong Kong office will remain operational US has heightened scrutiny of American capital flowing into China By Kane Wu and Summer Zhen HONG KONG, - U.S.-based investment firm Artisan Partners is liquidating a China-focused investment portfolio by the end of June, a company spokesperson said on Saturday. "This decision comes amid an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment and a persistently challenging economic and market backdrop, which have put significant pressure on flows across dedicated China strategies," the Artisan spokesperson said. The spokesperson said its Hong Kong office will remain operational, housing investment and trading professionals. Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday that the firm was disbanding the Hong Kong-based team responsible for its Greater China strategy. One said the decision was partly due to concerns about escalating Sino-U.S. trade and geopolitical tensions that have made investments in the world's second-largest economy riskier. The sources declined to be named as the information was not public. Reuters could not immediately ascertain how many people would be affected by the decision. The firm's China post-venture strategy, a fund that focuses on Chinese small- and mid-cap public and private companies, had $113 million of assets under management at the end of April, according to the firm's monthly update. In the same update, Artisan said the China-focused portfolio was in the process of winding down, without giving details. The firm's retreat from China-focused investments comes amid the U.S. government's tightened scrutiny of American investments in China and an ongoing trade war that has clouded the business outlook of many export-heavy companies from China. The U.S. government restricts U.S. investments in certain sensitive technology sectors in China, such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. U.S. investors are also restricted from investing in companies that are on the U.S. sanctioned entity list that comprise a growing number of those from China. U.S. onshore investors were not able to buy shares of Chinese battery giant CATL in its $4.6 billion Hong Kong listing last month due to the structure of the deal, CATL's filings showed. CATL was placed on a U.S. Defense Department list in January of Chinese companies it says work with China's military. By March 2025, Artisan's China post-venture strategy posted a net loss of 10.4% since its inception in March 2021. "The largest risks for investing in China will continue to be geopolitics and domestic policy overshoots," Tiffany Hsiao, the strategy's portfolio manager, said in a client letter on the firm's website in April. Outside the U.S., Artisan also has offices in London, Dublin, Singapore and Sydney, according to its website. The move follows the exit or downsizing of several North American asset managers and international law firms from Hong Kong over the past few years. Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Canada's third-largest pension fund, announced the closure of its Hong Kong office in March. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Amazon cuts more jobs, this time in books division
Amazon has cut jobs in its books division , including at its Goodreads review site and Kindle units, the company said on Thursday. The Seattle-based retailer said that fewer than 100 workers were impacted and the move was meant to improve efficiency and streamline operations. "As part of our ongoing work to make our teams and programs operate more efficiently, and to better align with our business roadmap, we've made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles within the Books organization," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. Amazon has been making piecemeal job cuts, most recently in its devices and services unit, as well as its Wondery podcast division and stores and communications staff. CEO Andy Jassy is undertaking an initiative to reduce what he has described as an excess of bureaucracy at the company, including by reducing the number of managers. Through this year's first quarter, Amazon added about 4,000 jobs compared to last year's fourth quarter, according to a disclosure last month. Shares of Amazon closed 0.3 per cent higher on Thursday and are down 5.6 per cent so far this year. The job cuts in the books division were first reported by Business Insider.
