A rough week for the Seattle tech industry | Amazon ends AmazonSmile charity program

• At least 2,300 Amazon employees in the Seattle region will lose their jobs as part of the company’s 18,000 layoffs, according to a new Washington state Employment Security Department filing. Read more. 

• Another filing shows nearly 900 Microsoft workers in the Seattle area will be laid off, part of the company’s cuts that will impact 5% of its total workforce. Read more. 

• We spoke with tech leaders to better understand the impact of layoffs on Seattle’s tech ecosystem. Read more. 

• Layoffs can be a rattling psychological experience. Recently laid off tech workers, HR experts, leadership coaches and others previously shared advice for those impacted — read the insights.

Amazon is ending the AmazonSmile program, which let customers donate to charity while making eligible purchases.

• Launched in 2013, AmazonSmile helped generate $450 million for charities around the world, but Amazon said it did not “create the impact that we had originally hoped.” Read more.

Tech Moves

• VMware exec joins Darktrace; Zillow Group hires a former Twitter marketing leader; Oregon Venture Fund adds a partner; and more key personnel changes. 

Washington state lawmakers are considering new rules aimed at limiting robocalls and empowering residents to sue companies over unwanted calls.

• The “Robocall Scam Protection Act” targets robocallers who made an estimated 616 million calls into the state in 2021, with many of those seeking to dupe people out of money or personal information. Read more. 

Listen up. This startup has developed a fast and easy way to clean out earwax.

• The device from Seattle’s SafKan Health looks like a pair of headphones and could supplant current clinical approaches to flushing out built-up gunk. Read more.