Amazon device chief Dave Limp said that the company would continue advancing the Alexa ecosystem despite recent job cuts that Amazon implemented in the particular division.
Early in November, the e-commerce juggernaut began reducing its workforce. Amazon planned to lay off 10,000 workers, or about 3% of its total workforce, according to CEO Andy Jassy, who said the company was accelerating cost-cutting measures.
Amazon's devices division, which includes the Echo Products, Fire Tablets, and the Alexa company, was said to be losing $5 billion in sales per year, making it a conceivable target for layoffs.
In recent months, Jassy has aggressively cut spending across the board in response to a weakening economy and declining growth in its retail division.
Top Official Assures Commitment to Device Business
Senior Vice President Dave Limp said in an interview on Tuesday, Dec. 13, that the cuts are "a painful event and not one you ever want to do," but he also insisted that there is still a strong commitment to Amazon's devices and services division. This is picked from a report from Bloomberg.
He mentioned the CEO Andy Jassy's continuous large bets on Alexa, Zoox self-driving taxis, and Kuiper internet satellites as proof that he is ready to invest billions in initiatives that might not yield results for years.
Senior Vice President Dave Limp is in charge of Amazon's $10 billion Project Kuiper. The project aims to build a network of satellites in low-Earth orbit to deliver high-speed internet to hundreds of millions of people worldwide, as well as the autonomous Robo-taxi service Zoox.
"Well under 2,000 people" were impacted by job layoffs in the division, according to Limp, evenly distributed between teams working on the Alexa voice assistant and other units.
Also, according to Limp, the company still has "tens of thousands" of employees, with 10,000 workings directly on Alexa-related projects. It is important to note that in 2018 they had the same number.
Additionally, Amazon disbanded teams working on unfinished projects, original video games, and telehealth services tied to Alexa.
Limp and Amazon's Devices Division
A story from Forbes tells us that Amazon's business model for its virtual assistant Alexa has come under scrutiny due to growing pains and privacy issues.
"We're trying to build technologies that can help people's lives," Limp says. "It's a long journey. It's going to take us decades to solve it all but the world is going to be a very different place in a decade or two."
Limp thinks that Alexa usage is at an all-time high and that enthusiasm for the software has been increasing.
He did, however, acknowledge that the devices company is still not profitable, amid disputing accusations in the media that operating losses in recent years had reached $5 billion.
Limp also believes that Alexa's momentum is going in the right direction.
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