Last updated on March 21st, 2024 at 08:41 am

An internal note indicates that the company has identified opportunities to reduce or halt investments in specific areas, leading to a wave of layoffs

Amazon is set to lay off several hundred employees in its streaming and studio operations, as indicated by an internal note sent on Wednesday. This announcement coincided with Twitch, a live-streaming company and Amazon subsidiary, revealing that it would cut about 35% of its workforce, equivalent to 500 employees.

Last year, Amazon eliminated over 27,000 positions as part of a broader wave of tech layoffs in the US, marking a significant shift from the industry’s hiring spree during the pandemic. Other tech giants, including Facebook and Microsoft, each cut 10,000 jobs, while Google reduced its workforce by 12,000.

“We have identified opportunities to decrease or halt investments in specific areas while boosting our investment and emphasis on content and product initiatives that have the greatest impact,” said Mike Hopkins, Senior Vice President of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, to employees.

Twitch’s CEO, Dan Clancy, stated in a blog post that the company had expanded too rapidly based on the belief that its business would grow at a faster pace.

“We still need to adjust the size of our company,” Clancy wrote. “For some time, our organization has been sized based on our optimistic projections for where we expect our business to be in three or more years, rather than our current position.”

Amazon has made substantial investments in its media business in recent years, including the $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM and approximately $465 million spent on the first season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” for Prime Video in 2022. Additionally, the company is planning to introduce advertisements on Prime Video and a more expensive ad-free subscription tier in certain markets, mirroring similar strategies by competitors like Netflix and Disney.