Amazon will lay off about 10,000 employees, NYT reports

Amazon plans to lay off about 10,000 employees as soon as this week, the New York Times reported, saying the job cuts would be the largest ever for the e-commerce giant. 

The layoffs will target the devices group, including the one responsible for the Alexa voice assistant, along with the retail division and human resources, the newspaper reported Monday, citing anonymous sources.

Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The shares fell about 2.5% in New York.

Read more: Meta to cut 11,000 jobs as Zuckerberg admits, 'I got this wrong'

Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy has vowed to streamline operations amid slowing sales growth and economic uncertainty. Last month, the Seattle-based company predicted that the holiday sales period would be the slowest in its history, spooking Wall Street and tanking the shares.

The world's largest online retailer has spent much of this year adjusting to a sharp slowdown in e-commerce growth as shoppers resumed pre-pandemic habits. Amazon delayed warehouse openings and froze hiring in the retail group. 

In recent weeks, Jassy has turned his attention to the corporate group, closing several several businesses, including a telehealth service, and killing experimental projects, such as a delivery robot and a kids' video-calling device. In October, Amazon announced it was temporarily freezing hiring for new corporate roles. 

The Alexa division has long been vulnerable to downsizing because the group's voice-activated devices have yet to become must-have gadgets and often wind up in consumers' closets.