Amazon announced that it was eliminating about 16,000 jobs across its corporate departments, coming after it laid off 14,000 employees last October.
All together, the 30,000 jobs represent almost 10% of the ecommerce giant’s previous corporate-level headcount.
Amazon execs have cited AI as contributing to recent job cuts and reorganizations. In sharing news of the latest cutbacks in a memo Wednesday, Beth Galetti, senior VP of people experience and technology, said that “we’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership and removing bureaucracy.”
“The reductions we are making today will impact approximately 16,000 roles across Amazon, and we’re again working hard to support everyone whose role is impacted,” Galetti wrote. The company will initially offer most affected U.S.-based employees 90 days “to look for a new role internally.” For employees who are unable to find a new role at Amazon or “who choose not to look for one,” Amazon will provide severance pay, outplacement services and health insurance benefits.
In June 2025, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy signaled coming layoffs, saying that efficiency gains from using AI would cause the company to reduce its corporate workforce over the next few years. “We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” he wrote in an internal memo.
According to Galetti, the layoffs this week are not part of a cycle “where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan. But just as we always have, every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate. That’s never been more important than it is today in a world that’s changing faster than ever.”
Amazon is scheduled to release its fourth quarter 2025 earnings results next Thursday, Feb. 5, after the market closes.
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