Amazon has recently chosen to close down its large charity platform as part of the company’s recent efforts to reduce total costs.
Known as the AmazonSmile, the program lets customers donate a percentage of their purchases through the company to a selection of non-profit organizations and is now slated to come to a close by the end of next month, according to a Wednesday announcement from the online retailer.
“We are writing to let you know that we plan to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20, 2023,” stated Amazon. “We will continue to pursue and invest in other areas where we’ve seen we can make meaningful change — from building affordable housing to providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities to using our logistics infrastructure and technology to assist broad communities impacted by natural disasters.”
Amazon stated that it would still assist the charities that receive donations via the program throughout this period of transition. The company expressed that it would provide a one-time donation “equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program.”
The stock for the company has dropped quite a bit over the past year, with a loss of $1 trillion in overall market capitalization from its previously established high back in 2021, as reported by the Washington Examiner. Amazon has also recently dont a number of other significant changes, including an abrupt closure of its telehealth service and halting the construction of a number of planned warehouses.
Back on the 4th of January, Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, revealed that the company planned to get rid of close to 18,000 jobs, with the majority of those jobs being from Amazon Stores and those employed in its People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) organization.
“Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so. These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure,” stated Jassy.
Amazon is not by itself in this choice from technology companies announcing downsizing efforts in recent weeks. For example, Microsoft announced this past week that it is going to be cutting close to 10,000 employees throughout the next few months in order to reduce overhead, with the downsizing accounting for roughly 5% of its workforce.
Firms throughout the sector have elected to fire close to 90,000 workers, as reported by a release from CrunchBase, which included stats from both larger corporations like Amazon and small businesses alike.
