Amazon, one of the leading e-commerce players, is reportedly gearing up for another big round of layoffs, which is possibly taking place in the coming week (January last week), according to people with knowledge of the situation. Word is, they’re planning to cut about 14,000 corporate jobs—almost the same number they let go last October.
These new cuts are part of a bigger push to trim around 30,000 white-collar positions, something that’s been in the works for a while. Details could still shift, and Amazon isn’t officially saying anything right now.
Who is on the chopping block?
Sources say the layoffs are expected to hit several business units: Amazon Web Services (AWS), retail and e-commerce, Prime Video, and even parts of human resources. It’s not clear exactly how deep the cuts will go, but these teams are at the heart of Amazon’s global business, so it’s a pretty big deal.
This is not the first time Amazon has slashed jobs recently. Back in October, about 14,000 people lost their positions. At the time, the company pointed to the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, saying AI was speeding up innovation and changing the way work gets done.
Later, though, CEO Andy Jassy clarified things. He said the layoffs weren’t really about money or AI—they were about cutting down on unnecessary layers of management and making decisions faster.
AI is not the main reason for layoff at Amazon
Even though Amazon insists AI is not the main reason, Jassy has admitted that the company’s growing reliance on AI does make certain roles less necessary. Amazon, like so many other big companies, is using AI for everything from coding to automating routine tasks. They even showed off their latest AI models at the AWS re:Invent conference in December, making it clear that artificial intelligence is a top priority.
Now, 30,000 jobs is a huge number, but it is actually less than 2 per cent of the entire Amazon workforce, which sits at about 1.58 million people.
Still, it is nearly 10 per cent of their corporate staff, since most Amazon employees work in warehouses or fulfilment centres. If Amazon goes through with these cuts, it’ll be their biggest layoff ever—topping the 27,000 jobs they cut back in 2022.
