At the start of the year, Amazon joined a large number of other tech companies in anouncing massive layoffs -- between November 2022 and the new round of cuts in January, over 18,000 workers were let go in what is the most wide-scale layoff round since the retail giant first launched in 1994. Over 2,300 workers were laid off in Amazon's home state of Washington alone while departments including payments, health care, human resources, robotics and web services were all affected. Amazon's leaders blamed the layoffs on a "difficult economy" and the need to cost-cut to keep the company profitable.