Amazon Initiates 14,000 Corporate Layoffs

Amazon disclosed on Tuesday that it will eliminate approximately 14,000 corporate positions globally as part of a shift to streamline operations and accelerate its investments in artificial intelligence.

Dubbing it as Amazon's largest layoff in years, some initial reports suggested a potential layoff figure as high as 30,000. However, the officially confirmed number from Amazon is 14,000 for this round of cuts.

In an internal memo shared with employees, senior vice president Beth Galetti stated that the reductions “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.”

The affected roles sit within Amazon’s corporate workforce, which is estimated at about 350,000 employees. The cuts represent roughly 4 % of that segment.

The company’s total workforce including warehouse and logistics staff stands near 1.55 million.

According to sources, Amazon could eventually cut up to 30,000 roles as part of this restructuring push.

CEO Andy Jassy had earlier warned employees that:

“in the next few years, we expect that [AI] will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”

Affected employees will receive notice by email and will be offered up to 90 days to apply internally for other positions.

The company emphasized that hiring will continue in strategic areas even as cuts occur in other divisions.

The broader move follows a pandemic-era hiring surge at Amazon, and the company now faces pressure to show operating discipline even as it invests heavily in AI and cloud infrastructure.