Amazon is Laying Off 16,000 Employees

Amazon announced this morning that it’s eliminating 16,000 corporate jobs, confirming a previous report from Reuters. Beth Galetti, SVP of People Experience and Technology at Amazon, explained in a message to employees that these latest job cuts are the continuation of the company’s streamlining plans announced back in October.

“As I shared in October, we’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy. While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now. The reductions we are making today will impact approximately 16,000 roles across Amazon, and we’re again working hard to support everyone whose role is impacted,” the exec explained.

Back in October, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy explained that the rollout of generative AI and AI agents means that the company would “need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.” Galetti did confirm today that Amazon will  “continue hiring and investing in strategic areas and functions that are critical to our future.”

The exec also tried to reassure Amazon employees that they shouldn’t expect to hear about thousands of layoffs every couple of months. “Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan. But just as we always have, every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate,” Galetti explained.

This statement doesn’t eliminate the possibility of the company announcing more layoffs later this year. In the meantime, Amazon will give most US-based employees 90 days to search for a new role internally, and it support others with severance pay and other benefits.