Amazon's efforts to reduce costs are spreading further across the company, with even small teams with little financial scrutiny getting axed.
Amazon is planning to shut down an Online Learning team that was responsible for creating online programming and cloud computing tutorials, Insider has learned. The company currently offers hundreds of online courses, many of which are free, across topics including data science and software engineering on its Online Learning site. The content will remain on the site but it won't get any further updates, said a person familiar with the move.
The team of less than 100 people were told about the change last week. They are being given the choice between leaving Amazon with a severance package or finding another position within the company by February.
Amazon is also shutting down an online learning platform in India that offers tutorials for students preparing to take the country's highly-competitive engineering and medical college entrance exams, according to a current employee. The app, called Amazon Academy, launched into an already-crowded edtech market in January 2021.
"At Amazon we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas to delight customers. We also continually evaluate the progress and potential of our products and services to deliver customer value, and we regularly make adjustments based on those assessments," Amazon's spokesperson said in an email to Insider.
The moves are part of one of the most severe cost cutting phases in Amazon's history. For decades, the e-commerce giant re-invested in its businesses, even if that meant losing money. But moves like this show the leadership team is most focused on profitability now, leaving no corners untouched.
The new approach is a response to a significant growth slowdown and a looming recession. In recent months, the company has implemented a hiring freeze in its retail business, pulled back warehouse-expansion plans, and urged employees to "double down on frugality." Other efforts scrapped in recent weeks include several robotics projects and a number of confidential moonshot initiatives.
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