Amazon to end its AmazonSmile charitable giving program

Amazon on Wednesday announced plans to shut down AmazonSmile, its charitable giving program, by next month as the company looks for ways to cut costs.

The program, launched in 2013, distributed a percentage of shoppers’ purchases to eligible charities, donating more than $377 million globally since its inception, Amazon said. Amazon now plans to shut down the AmazonSmile program by February 20, the company announced in a blog post.

“After almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact we originally hoped for,” the company said. “With so many eligible organizations – over a million worldwide – our ability to make an impact was often too scattered.”

Amazon went on to say that it will continue to invest in areas where it can “make meaningful change,” helping communities affected by natural disasters, building affordable housing, and providing access to life skills education. computer science to students from underserved communities.

The announcement is the latest sign of distress for Amazon, which over the past three years has seen a huge growth spurt followed by slowing revenue and a $1 trillion loss in market value. To stem the losses, Amazon announced a workforce reduction in November that cut more than 18,000 jobs.

In recent months, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy halted testing on Amazon Scout, the company’s robotic home delivery initiative. It also shut down telehealth and nursing service Amazon Care, as well as Fabric.com, a longtime online fabric retailer.