Amazon.com Inc. is set to begin a round of layoffs ultimately affecting more than 18,000 employees in the largest job cull in its history, which it announced earlier this month.The eliminations started last year and initially fell hardest on Amazon's Devices and Services group, which builds the Alexa digital assistant and Echo smart speakers.While the cuts represent only about 1% of the total workforce, which includes hundreds of thousands of hourly warehouse and delivery personnel, they amount to about 6% of Amazon's 350,000 corporate employees around the globe.“These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”Amazon shares were little changed in pre-market trading before exchanges opened in New York after closing down 2.1% at $96.05 on Tuesday.Amazon's Seattle headquartersThe world's largest online retailer spent much of last year adjusting to a sharp slowdown in e-commerce growth as shoppers returned to pre-pandemic habits."