Amazon is set to carry out another round of job cuts as early as next week, as the tech and retail giant continues its plan to scale back its corporate workforce by around 30,000 roles, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The company eliminated roughly 14,000 white-collar positions in October last year.
Sources said the next phase of layoffs is expected to be similar in size and could begin as soon as Tuesday. They requested anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly about Amazon’s internal decisions.
Several major divisions are expected to be affected, including Amazon Web Services, retail operations, Prime Video, and the company’s human resources arm, known as People Experience and Technology. However, the full scope of the cuts has yet to be finalised, and plans could still change, the sources cautioned.
Previous Cuts Tied to AI
Amazon initially attributed last October’s job reductions to the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, stating in an internal memo that “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.”
Yet Chief Executive Andy Jassy later offered a different explanation during the company’s third-quarter earnings call, telling analysts the move was “not really financially driven and it’s not even really AI-driven.” Instead, he said, “it’s culture,” citing layers of bureaucracy that had built up over time.
“You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers,” Jassy said.
Earlier in 2025, Jassy said he expected Amazon’s corporate headcount to continue shrinking as efficiency gains from artificial intelligence reshape how work is done across the organisation.
Across the corporate world, companies are increasingly turning to AI tools to write software code and automate routine tasks in a bid to cut costs and reduce reliance on human labour.
Amazon underscored its ambitions in the space by showcasing its latest AI models at its annual AWS cloud computing conference in December.
While a total reduction of 30,000 jobs would represent only a small fraction of Amazon’s global workforce of about 1.58 million employees, it would account for nearly 10% of its corporate staff.
The vast majority of Amazon workers remain employed in fulfilment centres and warehouses.
If completed, the move would mark the largest round of layoffs in Amazon’s three-decade history, surpassing the roughly 27,000 jobs cut in 2022.
Employees affected by the October layoffs were told they would stay on the payroll for 90 days, giving them time to apply for internal roles or seek opportunities elsewhere. That transition period is set to end on Monday.
