The cuts include workforce reductions already announced in November. The company had previously flagged that it would make additional cuts this year.

"Today, I wanted to share the outcome of these further reviews, which is the difficult decision to eliminate additional roles," CEO Andy Jassy said in an employee memo. "Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we're sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles."

The workforce eliminations are focused on the company's devices and books business, as well as its people, experience, and technology organization, and Amazon Stores.

Jassy announced the cuts earlier than expected after an employee leaked the plans. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Wednesday that the company would reduce its workforce by 17,000 jobs.

"We typically wait to communicate about these outcomes until we can speak with the people who are directly impacted," Jassy said. "However, because one of our teammates leaked this information externally, we decided it was better to share this news earlier so you can hear the details directly from me."

Impacted employees will hear from Amazon starting Jan. 18.