Amazon reportedly shuts down AmazonSmile, its charity donation program. The program in question is reported to have donated over $377 million to charity platforms and organizations in less than a decade.
Amazon Reportedly Shuts Down AmazonSmile
Tech company Amazon on Wednesday said that it plans on shutting down AmazonSmile, the firm’s charity donation program by the coming month as the company continues to look for ways to cut costs.
The program which was launched in 2013, doled out a percentage of purchases of shoppers to eligible charities and in the process donating over $377 million worldwide ever since its inception, Amazon stated. Amazon, for now, plans to shut the program AmazonSmile by February 20, the firm in a company blog post said.
What Amazon Has To Say About the Development
“After almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped,” the company stated. “With so many eligible organizations — more than 1 million globally — our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.”
Amazon however went on to say that it will continue in its quest to invest in areas and places where it can “make meaningful change,” assisting communities that are impacted and affected by natural disasters, building and erecting affordable housing, and also providing access to computer science education for students that are situated in underserved communities.
Amazon Losses $1 Trillion in Market Value
This very announcement is the latest sign of distress from the company, which over the past couple (three) years via a huge growth spurt then followed by a slowdown in revenue as well as a loss of $1 trillion in market value. Amazon in a bid to stem the losses announced a reduction in its workforce in November. The said reduction at the time cut over 18,000 jobs in the company.
Other Amazon Projects to Be Stopped
CEO of Amazon Andy Jassy in the past couple of months halted testing on Amazon Scout which is the robotics home delivery initiative of the company. The CEO also shuttered Amazon Care telehealth and nursing service as well as Fabric.co, which is a longtime online fabric retailer of the company.
