Amazon to Cuts in Cloud Computing Unit

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares gain Friday, amid word Thursday the company is laying off some staffers in its cloud computing division.“After a thorough review of our organization, our priorities, and what we need to focus on going forward, we’ve made the difficult business decision to eliminate some roles across particular teams in AWS,” Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser said. “We didn’t make these decisions lightly, and we’re committed to supporting the employees throughout their transition.”The company declined to say which units within Amazon Web Services were impacted, or how many employees will be let go as a result of the job cuts.AWS’ training and certification unit was one of the groups to see cuts, according to a memo sent out by division head Michelle Vaz.Reuters was first to report on the layoffs.In May, Amazon reported a third straight quarterly revenue miss at AWS. Sales increased 17% to $29.27 billion in the first quarter, slowing from 18.9% in the prior period.Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has been on a cost-cutting mission for the past several years, which has resulted in more than 27,000 employees being let go since 2022. Job reductions have continued this year, though at a smaller scale than in preceding years. Amazon’s stores, communications, and devices and services divisions have been hit with layoffs in recent months.AMZN shares captured 44 cents to $224.32.