Amazon layoffs to begin tomorrow? Key sectors that could be impacted
E-commerce giant Amazon is planning a second round of layoffs this week, with a broader aim of trimming its corporate workforce by about 30,000, according to a Reuters report citing two people familiar with the matter.
In the second round, the total job cuts are expected to be roughly the same as last year and could start as early as Tuesday, 27 January, the people told the news portal.
In October last year, the company cut around 14,000 white-collar jobs, nearly half of the 30,000.
Which divisions will be impacted?
Employees in Amazon Web Services, retail, Prime Video, and the People Experience and Technology HR units are expected to be affected, the report said. However, the full extent of the impact remains unclear, while Amazon’s plans could still change.
The Seattle-based retailer giant cited the first round of job cuts in October on the rise of artificial intelligence software, saying in an internal letter 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.”
Later, CEO Andy Jassy told analysts during the company’s third-quarter earnings call that the reduction was “not really financially driven and it’s not even really AI-driven.” Rather, he said, “it’s culture,” meaning the company has too much bureaucracy.
“You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers,” he said. Jassy had previously stated in 2025 that he anticipated Amazon’s corporate workforce would decrease over time due to efficiencies gained from the use of AI.
Major companies are increasingly using AI to write code for their software and adopting AI agents that automate routine tasks, as they look to save costs and cut reliance on people, the report said. Amazon touted its latest AI models during its annual AWS cloud computing conference in December.
The entire 30,000 jobs would constitute a small part of Amazon’s 1.58 million employees, accounting for nearly 10% of the company’s corporate staff. Most of Amazon’s workforce is employed in fulfilment centres and warehouses. It would be the biggest layoff in Amazon’s thirty-year history. The company cut around 27,000 jobs in 2022.
In October, affected workers were told they would remain on the payroll for 90 days, during which time they could apply for internal jobs or seek other employment. That period expires on Monday.
