Amazon's Audible fires 5% of its workforce citing 'challenging landscape'

Amazon-owned online audiobook and podcast service Audible fired nearly 5% of its workforce, marking the third round of job cuts at the e-commerce giant's businesses this week.

In a memo sent to employees, Audible CEO Bob Carrigan said the company is in good shape, but faces an "increasingly challenging landscape."

"We did not take this route without considerable thought," Carrigan said. "But getting leaner and more efficient is the way we will need to operate now" and in the foreseeable future in order to continue delivering best-in-class audio storytelling to our customers around the world." A spokesperson for Audible declined to provide the number of employees who will be affected by the cuts.

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The layoffs at Audible follow others announced this week in Amazon's Prime Video and MGM Studios unit, which is trimming hundreds of employees from its payroll as it cuts back in areas that are not delivering. Earlier this week, Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch also said it was cutting more than 500 jobs in a bid to save on costs and become more profitable.

Google-parent Alphabet also sacked hundreds of employees across multiple teams. The job cuts come at a time when big technology companies such as Microsoft and Meta Platforms are pouring billions of dollars into generative artificial intelligence following the success of OpenAI's ChatGPT.