Alexa, cut jobs: Amazon targets hardware teams in first culls

Amazon has started to cut its key hardware teams as the e-commerce giant is forced to slim down operations.
Sources told the Financial Times that staff working on the Alexa voice assistant, Kindle ereader and Halo health tracking device are amongst the first to be hit by mass layoffs at the company.
It comes after reports that Amazon is set to dump 10,000 jobs amid a torrid slew of tech lay-offs in recent months.
This would mark the biggest jobs culling in the US giant’s history and comes shortly after the announcement of mass cuts at tech firms Twitter and Meta last month.
Layoffs would signify around three per cent of corporate staff and would follow news of a recent hiring freeze for the next few months.
The Seattle-based firm warned its growth would slowdown as consumers face a cost of living crunch and businesses have been whacked with upped costs.
Facebook owner Meta announced a culling of more than 11,000 roles, representing 13 per cent of its total workforce.
Elsewhere, billionaire Elon Musk announced he was laying off half of staff at his newly-acquired Twitter.
Job cuts have also been detailed at Microsoft, Snap, and Salesforce, as companies battle to tackle surging costs.