Key takeaways Amazon is cutting 14,000 corporate positions, representing approximately 4% of its white-collar workforce, with additional layoffs expected in 2026. The company cited artificial intellig...
Amazon announced Tuesday it will eliminate approximately 14,000 corporate positions as the e-commerce and cloud computing giant accelerates its transformation toward artificial intelligence-driven operations, marking one of the largest single layoff rounds in the tech industry this year.
Beth Galetti, Amazon's senior vice president of people experience and technology, confirmed the workforce reduction in a memo to employees posted on the company's public blog.
The cuts represent roughly 4% of Amazon's estimated 350,000-person corporate workforce.
"The reductions we're sharing today are a continuation of this work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we're investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers' current and future needs," Galetti wrote in the memo.
The announcement explicitly ties the layoffs to Amazon's push into artificial intelligence, with Galetti describing the technology as transformative for the company's operations and competitive positioning.
"This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we've seen since the Internet, and it's enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before," Galetti stated in the memo. "We're convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business."
The layoffs follow through on warnings from CEO Andy Jassy, who signaled in June that the company's workforce would shrink as Amazon embraces AI technology. In that earlier memo to employees, Jassy wrote: "We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce."
Amazon has been deploying AI across its operations, including in inventory management, demand forecasting, warehouse robotics efficiency, and customer service functions.
The company plans to spend over $100 billion on capital expenditures in 2025, up from $83 billion in 2024, with the majority directed toward AI infrastructure and data centers.
Galetti indicated that the workforce reductions announced Tuesday represent the beginning of an ongoing restructuring process that will extend into 2026.
"We expect to continue hiring in key strategic areas while also finding additional places we can remove layers, increase ownership, and realize efficiency gains," she wrote.
Reuters had reported Monday that Amazon's layoffs could ultimately affect up to 30,000 positions across human resources, cloud computing, logistics, payments, video games, and other departments. While Amazon confirmed only 14,000 cuts on Tuesday, the company did not rule out additional reductions matching that earlier projection.
The layoffs come as Amazon maintains strong financial performance. For the second quarter of 2025, the company reported revenue of $167.7 billion, up 13% year-over-year, and net income of $18.2 billion, up 35%. Amazon is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday, October 30.
Most affected employees will receive 90 days to search for new roles internally, with Amazon's recruiting teams prioritizing those candidates. Workers who cannot secure new positions at the company will be offered severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits, and other support.
The cuts position Amazon alongside other major tech companies that have reduced headcount this year while increasing AI investments.
Microsoft has laid off approximately 15,000 people since May, while Meta eliminated roughly 600 positions in its artificial intelligence unit last week.
Target announced 1,800 corporate job cuts last week, and Starbucks recently cut nearly 2,000 corporate positions.
Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in a note to investors that Amazon's move reflects broader market pressures.
"Markets across the world are tightening at the same time as underlying costs are rising. Amazon is not immune to this, and it needs to act if it wants to continue with a good bottom-line performance. In some ways, this is a tipping point away from human capital to technological infrastructure."
The Seattle region, home to Amazon's headquarters and approximately 50,000 of its corporate employees, is expected to be significantly impacted by the cuts.
Key takeaways OpenAI has signed a multi-year, $10 billion agreement with AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems to secure computing infrastructure. The deal will deliver 750 megawatts of computing power throug...
KEY TAKEAWAYS: xAI implemented restrictions preventing Grok from editing images of real people in revealing clothing after global backlash California Attorney General Rob Bonta launched investigation...
Key takeaways TSMC reported fourth-quarter net income of NT$505.74 billion, beating analyst expectations and setting a new record. Fourth-quarter revenue reached NT$1.046 trillion, up 20.5% year over...
