Amazon's senior employees may not get a cash pay raise this year

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday its senior employees, whose compensation includes more stock-related awards than cash, may not receive a cash pay raise this year.

"For this year's compensation cycle, we are prioritizing cash base pay increases for employees whose compensation is weighted more heavily in base pay as opposed to stock," an Amazon spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Some of these top employees' compensation, however, will meaningfully exceed that of last year due to growth in the e-commerce giant's stock price over the past year, the spokesperson added.

The stock surged 81% in 2023, and climbed over 18% so far this year, as of last close.

Despite the strong performance, Amazon began the year by shedding jobs across several divisions. Aiming to slash costs, the company had cut more than 27,000 jobs and trimmed stock awards last year.

The pay raise matter was first reported by Fortune.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny and Priyanka G in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)