Book Depository: Online bookshop owned by Amazon to close as company cuts costs

The Book Depository online shop is set to be shut down at the end of the month by parent firm Amazon.

The bookseller has told customers and publishing partners it will close on April 26.

It comes as part of a raft of cuts by technology giant Amazon to heavily reduce its costs, which have hit thousands of jobs.

Gloucester-based Book Depository was founded in 2004 by former Amazon employee Andrew Crawford and business partner Stuart Felton.

Amazon then took over the business, which has offices in London, Gloucester, Madrid, Cape Town and Chennai, in 2011.

The company said in a statement on its website: “We are sorry to let you know that Book Depository will be closing on 26 April 2023.”

It added it will continue to deliver purchases and provide support on any order issues for the next two months.

The statement continued: “From all of us at Book Depository we want to say ‘thank you’. Delivering your favourite reads to you since 2007 has been a pleasure.”

The closure comes amid plans to cut thousands of jobs across Amazon in order to improve the group’s finances.

In January, Amazon confirmed the shake-up would affect its books business, which also included a move to stop selling magazines and newspaper subscriptions on its Kindle e-book devices.

Amazon said it would cut more than 18,000 jobs worldwide in the largest layoffs programme in its history.

Chief Executive Andy Jassy – who took over from founder Jeff Bezos in July 2021 – said in a note to employees, which was made public: “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”

In March, Amazon said it would cut a further 9,000 jobs across its global business as it continued to react to the uncertain economic backdrop.

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