Amazon Announces 14,000 Job Losses in Corporate Division

Amazon has confirmed plans to cut thousands of jobs worldwide, saying the move is part of a broader effort to streamline its structure and seize new opportunities presented by artificial intelligence (AI).

The technology giant announced on Tuesday that it would reduce its global corporate workforce by about 14,000 positions. Earlier reports had suggested the company was considering cutting as many as 30,000 roles.

Beth Galetti, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology, said in a memo to employees that the decision was aimed at making the company “even stronger” by reallocating resources toward key priorities. “We are shifting investments to ensure we’re focused on our biggest bets and on what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs,” she wrote.

Galetti acknowledged that some might question the timing of the move, given Amazon’s robust financial performance. In July, the company reported second-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street expectations, with revenue rising 13% year on year to $167.7 billion (£125 billion).

However, Galetti stressed that the restructuring was essential for Amazon to stay ahead in a rapidly changing technological landscape. “AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet,” she said. “It’s enabling companies to innovate faster than ever before. We’re convinced that we must be organised more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, so we can move as quickly as possible for our customers and our business.”

Her message, shared with Amazon employees earlier on Tuesday, said the company was working to support all those affected by the job cuts. That includes helping displaced workers find new roles within Amazon where possible. Those unable to secure internal transfers will receive severance packages and other transition assistance, according to the memo.

Amazon currently employs more than 1.5 million people globally across its warehouses and offices. Of those, around 350,000 are corporate staff in executive, managerial, and sales positions, according to data the company filed with the US government last year.

Like many technology companies, Amazon ramped up hiring during the Covid-19 pandemic to meet surging demand for online shopping and digital services. Since then, CEO Andy Jassy has shifted focus to cost discipline and efficiency, even as the company invests heavily in AI-powered tools and automation.

Jassy warned in June that increased reliance on AI systems would likely result in a reshaping of Amazon’s workforce. “We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” he said at the time, noting that automation would increasingly take over routine and repetitive tasks.

The company has already conducted several major rounds of layoffs in recent years, including the elimination of about 27,000 corporate roles in 2022. That wave mirrored similar moves by rivals across the tech industry seeking to reverse pandemic-era hiring surges.

Following Amazon’s latest earnings report in July, the company issued more cautious profit guidance for the following quarter, prompting questions from some analysts about when its massive AI investments might begin to deliver returns.

In addition, slower growth in its cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), relative to competitors Microsoft and Google, has raised investor concerns about its long-term trajectory. Amazon is expected to release its latest quarterly results on Thursday, covering the period that ended 30 September.

Ben Barringer, technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said Amazon’s decision would likely influence workforce strategies across the broader tech sector. “We’re already seeing software development roles being reduced thanks to the growing capabilities of AI tools,” he told the BBC. “The biggest companies have the data and infrastructure to deploy AI at scale — and, unfortunately, that means job losses are becoming inevitable.”