Amazon is planning to cut more than 18,000 roles as it reduces costs, the technology giant's boss says.
The job cuts amount to around 6% of the company's 300,000-strong workers.
Andy Jassy added that the announcement was brought forward "because one of our teammates leaked this information externally".
Amazon is the latest big technology firm to unveil major layoffs as the cost of living crisis sees customers cut back on spending.
In a memo to staff, Mr Jassy said the majority of job losses would come from its stores division as well as "people, experience, and technology" which includes human resources.
He did not specify in which countries employees would lose their jobs but indicated it would include Europe. He said: "We intend on communicating with impacted employees (or where applicable in Europe, with employee representative bodies) starting on January 18."
'More pain ahead'
In November, Amazon said it was starting a round of layoffs as it focused on reducing expenses but did not give a figure of how many jobs it would cut.
The company had already introduced a hiring freeze and halted some of its warehouse expansions, warning it had over-hired during the pandemic.
It has also taken steps to shut some parts of its business, cancelling projects such as a personal delivery robot.
Mr Jassy said in the note that reviewing Amazon's business "has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we've hired rapidly over the last several years."
"Companies that last a long time go through different phases. They're not in heavy people expansion mode every year," he added.
BBC