Amazon Alexa on track to lose $10 billion this year, described as 'colossal failure' in new report
Amazon's Devices and Books businesses have already been hit by layoffs this year
The Heritage Foundation's Andy Puzder discusses Amazon's sweeping layoffs and how the labor force has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic on 'Fox Business Tonight.'
Amazon's Alexa, the voice assistant that was introduced in 2014, is part of a devices unit at the company that is expected to lose about $10 billion in 2022, according to Business Insider.
The new report comes as Amazon is cutting roughly 10,000 jobs, with positions already eliminated across the company's Devices and Books businesses, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees last week.
David Limp, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon.com Inc., presents the Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker during an unveiling event at the company's Spheres headquarters in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Sept. 20, 2018. (Andrew Burton/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Alexa is part of Amazon's "Worldwide Digital" unit, which includes the digital voice assistant, the Echo speaker, and Prime Video. In the first quarter of this year, that unit lost $3 billion, Business Insider reported, citing internal data.
"Alexa is a colossal failure of imagination," a former employee told the news outlet. "It was a wasted opportunity."
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Dave Limp, the Senior Vice President of Devices and Services at Amazon, said Tuesday that the company remains confident in its voice assistant.
"We are as committed as ever to Echo and Alexa, and will continue to invest heavily in them," Limp told Fox Business in a statement.
The Amazon Echo Dot, one of multiple devices that use Alexa to communicate with users. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Jassy also told employees in a memo last week that Amazon still has "conviction in pursuing" Alexa, as well as Prime Video and other newer initiatives, but the layoffs are necessary because "the economy remains in a challenging spot."
It's part of a larger wave of tech layoffs, with Twitter, Facebook, and other companies announcing job cuts in recent weeks.