Amazon is ending its charity donation programme AmazonSmile after a decade. In a blog post on Wednesday, the company said AmazonSmile will shut down by February 20 because it has "not grown to create the impact" the retailer had hoped.
The programme allowed Amazon to donate a small percentage of eligible purchases to a charity selected by shoppers. The decision comes as the Seattle-based company lays off workers and axes different areas of its business in an effort to trim costs.
The company said: "With so many eligible organisations - more than one million globally - our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin." It said charities that have been a part of the AmazonSmile will receive a "one-time donation equivalent" to three months of what they earned last year through the programme.
They will also able to accrue additional donations until the programme officially closes, Amazon said. It said in the blog post that it will also continue supporting other charitable programmes, such as its housing equity fund, which aims to build more affordable homes.
Other technology companies, such as Facebook parent Meta and Salesforce, have also been letting workers go after ramping up hiring over the past couple of years, when the pandemic made consumers increasingly reliant on the tech sector. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said earlier this month redundancies at his company will affect about 18,000 employees.
Mr Jassy said the job cuts will mostly affect the company's retail division and its PXT organisations, which handle human resources and other functions. Other teams, including the company's Alexa division, have also faced layoffs since November.
