Amazon lays off 150

Amazon.com will lay off around 150 people as part of a restructuring, the company said Friday.

Amazon spokesman Bill Curry said the layoffs represent around 2 percent of the retailer's total workforce.

He said the layoffs were spread throughout the company and that the move was not a reaction to holiday sales or seasonal factors.

"The critical thing is that strategy is not changing. This is not to be lumped with some of the other dotcom actions you've seen," Curry said. "We're growing across product lines and services. We're still a growth company and we're still hiring."

Amazon is expected to post fourth quarter results next week. The company had previously stated that while fourth quarter sales would probably hit $650m (£403m), easily beating earlier estimates, it would still be losing money.

A survey of analysts by First Call predicted the company would lose 48 cents per share for the quarter.

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