Amazon layoffs impact APAC adtech and media leaders

A recent round of layoffs at Amazon has impacted senior leaders in Asia Pacific, Campaign has learned. 

Campaign understands the layoffs include Sunil Yadav, the head of commercial for EMEA and Southeast Asia at Amazon Ads and head of agency development in APAC.

Yadav led agency partnerships for Amazon across APAC covering advertising holding companies and independent agencies. He was also in charge of commercial partnerships across Middle East and North Africa, the Benelux countries, the Nordics and Southeast Asia, to help advertisers maximise Amazon adtech products.

Eliott Renton, who was head of sales for Amazon Web Services’ media, entertainment & sports industry (AWSI) business was also let go. AWSI is a team within Amazon that consists of industry media experts that enable AWS to help customers modernise, innovate and scale their businesses using AWS cloud technologies. 

Yadav confirmed he was let go when reached by Campaign but declined to share more.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on individuals impacted but confirmed the company had eliminated some roles with Campaign in a statement: “While it’s true that we have eliminated roles within some parts of our businesses, we continue to hire in other targeted areas based on customer needs.” 

It is unclear who will take over Yadav’s and Renton’s responsibilities. Before joining Amazon, Yadav spent more than a decade at Dentsu, where he last held the position of president of Amplifi in APAC. Renton joined Amazon from Grabyo where he was head of APAC and he also spent time at Discovery and Dazn Group. 

Amazon announced in early April that it is implementing significant layoffs within its AWS division, affecting hundreds of employees in the sales, marketing, and global services units. This is part of the tech giant’s ongoing global layoff exercise.

The company said it is transitioning from in-house training operations to digital and externally run training programs. In addition, Amazon's Physical Stores Technology group will experience job reductions as the company moves away from its ‘Just Walk Out’ technology in Amazon Fresh grocery stores.  

AWS senior vice president Matt Garman stated in an internal email that these changes aim to prepare the organisation for the future by aligning with strategic priorities and reducing inefficiencies, acknowledging the impact on affected employees. 

In January, Campaign broke the news that Amazon’s decision to change its content strategy for its Prime Video offering in Southeast Asia will impact its agency, IPG Mediabrands. Amazon is Mediabrands’ agency Initiative’s biggest client globally, serviced under a team called Rufus since 2017. While the account was previously limited to Australia and India, both parties expanded their partnership from 2022 onwards.

And while Initiative retained Amazon in 2022 with more than US$200,000 in billings, Amazon put its media account up for review in October 2023. Amazon has since shortlisted WPP, IPG Mediabrands and Omnicom Media Group for its media account.