Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon.com, said in a memo to employees that the company's job cuts will affect more than 18,000 positions as part of a workforce reduction previously disclosed.

The company, headquartered in Seattle, began laying off employees in the devices division in November, when a Reuters source said at the time that Amazon was targeting a reduction of ten thousand jobs in the devices division, as well as in the human resources and retail divisions.

Amazon, the second-largest private-sector employer in the United States with over 1.5 million employees, is also preparing for potentially slower growth. This comes as high inflation forces companies and consumers to cut spending.

Additional job cuts at Amazon will also raise its total number beyond the plans recently announced by other major companies. This also represents a significant shift in the retail company that had doubled the base wage ceiling in recent months to compete more strongly for talent.