March 27 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc ( AMZN ) 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 ( AMZN ) 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 ( AMZN ) 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.