New Delhi (India), 6th April 2023: Amazon allegedly intends to decrease the number of stock awards given to employees in 2025 following a wave of mass layoffs. Business Insider claims that this action portends a significant change in how Amazon views pay.
According to the report, Amazon has informed managers that employee stock awards, also known as restricted stock units, or RSUs, for 2025 “will be reduced due to the economic climate and company budget.” The report cited an internal memo in support of this claim.
An Amazon spokesperson said in an emailed statement, “We made the decision to reduce RSU (restricted stock units) awards in the final outlook year by a small amount (other years are not impacted).”
The news follows Amazon’s announcement of a second round of mass layoffs a few weeks prior, adding to a wave of job losses that are taking place in the technology sector.
The proposed shift to the company’s pay structure was first revealed by Business Insider, which claimed that Amazon would review 2025 compensation in the first quarter of 2024 in order to “plan for stock variation.”
After considering the impact of an uncertain economy on its budget for compensation, the company was considering changing its compensation model in the future to be more evenly distributed between basic cash compensation and equity.
