Amazon is set to close its UK online book business after it announced thousands of job cuts.
Book Depository, which ships books to more than 120 countries, has confirmed on its website it will shut down on April 26. This comes as part of a raft of job cuts by the technology giant to reduce its costs.
The Book Depository was founded in Gloucestershire by former Amazon employee Andrew Crawford and Stuart Felton in 2004, and was acquired by the tech retail giant in 2011.
In a short message the firm told its customers: "From all of us at Book Depository we want to say 'thank you.' Delivering your favourite reads to you since 2007 has been a pleasure.”
Last month Amazon said it would lay off another 9,000 workers across its global operations in “the next few weeks”, on top of 18,000 roles the group had already announced it would cut in January.
Amazon confirmed it had taken the "difficult decision" to close Book Depository, and shared with BusinessLive a message from chief executive Andy Jassy to staff in January. In it, Mr Jassy said the firm would move to reduce its workforce, including within its books businesses, amid an “uncertain economy” and after it had recruited “rapidly over the last several years”. He added: “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”
In addition to its distribution centre by Waterwells Business Park in Quedgeley, Book Depository has an Australian fulfilment centre and offices in London, Madrid, Cape Town and Chennai.
In its most recent set of financial results published on Companies House, the e-commerce firm made a gross profit of £20.8m, and a pre-tax operating loss of £6.5m. Revenue decreased by £17.4m during 2021 to £280.2m, with bosses saying the previous year had seen “increased demand” for books due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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