Amazon announces its largest-ever corporate layoff, cutting up to 30,000 jobs (10% of white-collar staff). Find out which divisions are impacted as the tech giant prioritises AI efficiency, corrects for pandemic overhiring, and slashes costs.

Amazon is reportedly preparing to execute its largest-ever round of layoffs, with plans to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs starting this week.

The massive reduction, representing nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 white-collar workforce, marks a significant escalation in CEO Andy Jassy’s ongoing push for operational efficiency and a reversal of the aggressive overhiring that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic boom.

Key Divisions Affected in Company-Wide Cuts

The job eliminations are not confined to a single department, signaling a company-wide restructuring effort. Managers of impacted teams reportedly underwent training on Monday, with initial employee notifications expected to begin on Tuesday.

Divisions facing the deepest cuts are believed to include:

Human Resources (internally known as People Experience and Technology, or PXT)
Devices and Services (which includes teams for products like Alexa and Kindle)
Operations
Corporate Functions within Amazon Web Services (AWS)

This new round of cuts surpasses the approximately 27,000 corporate roles eliminated across late 2022 and early 2023, making it the most substantial workforce reduction in Amazon’s nearly 30-year history.

Drivers of the Mass Layoffs

The decision to dramatically reduce the corporate headcount is driven by a confluence of economic and strategic factors:

Post-Pandemic Correction: Amazon, like many tech giants, significantly overhired between 2020 and 2022 to meet the surge in e-commerce and cloud demand. The current layoffs aim to correct that inflated headcount as growth rates normalize.
AI-Driven Automation: CEO Andy Jassy has been vocal about the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in streamlining operations. Internal sources indicate the company is already “realizing enough AI-driven efficiency within its corporate teams to justify major reductions,” automating tasks previously handled by human employees.
Cost-Cutting Initiative: The move is part of Jassy’s broader push to reduce bureaucracy and control rising operating expenses, freeing up resources to invest in high-growth, high-capex areas like AI infrastructure for AWS.
Office Return Policy: Reports suggest the company’s stringent requirement for corporate staff to return to the office failed to generate the desired level of voluntary attrition, necessitating large-scale layoffs to hit headcount targets.

Contrasting Corporate Cuts with Logistics Hiring

In a notable contrast to the corporate layoffs, Amazon confirmed it plans to hire approximately 250,000 seasonal workers for its warehouse and logistics network to manage the holiday season surge.

This number remains consistent with its seasonal hiring in previous years and underscores the company’s dual strategy: cutting internal corporate overhead while aggressively investing in and maintaining front-line capacity for order fulfilment.

The market reaction to the news has been largely positive, with Amazon’s stock trading slightly higher, as investors view the cost-cutting as a sign of fiscal discipline and a sharp focus on long-term profitability and AI-powered efficiency.