Amazon is set to eliminate an additional 16,000 corporate positions, resulting in a total workforce reduction of 30,000. This marks the company’s largest layoff in history. The decision comes despite the company posting record profits and is part of a broader strategy to enhance efficiency following a substantial $125 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI).
In conjunction with these layoffs, Amazon is also shuttering its Go and Fresh stores and discontinuing its palm-scanning payment system. These moves indicate a significant shift in the company’s operational strategy as it adapts to changing market conditions and technological advancements.
Amazon is laying off another 16,000 corporate jobs–exactly three months to the day after announcing 14,000 cuts on October 28. The combined total of 30,000 positions marks the largest workforce reduction in Amazon’s history, surpassing the 27,000 jobs eliminated during the post-pandemic belt-tightening in 2023. Affected employees in the US will get 90 days to find internal roles before severance kicks in. Amazon is pouring roughly $125 billion into data centres and infrastructure as it races to catch up with Microsoft and Google in the AI wars. Amazon reported $21 billion in profit last quarter alone. The company’s total workforce stands at 1.57 million—but that number is headed in one direction.
The irony isn’t lost on workers.
Jassy has been blunt about what this means for headcount—he told employees last year that AI-driven efficiency gains would shrink corporate staff over time. Too many managers, too many approval layers, too many “pre-meetings for the pre-meetings,” as he put it in a September memo. Amazon has plans to automate more than half a million fulfilment centre jobs with robots, according to a New York Times report from last year.
The reason why Amazon is laying off thousands despite record profits Behind the job cuts lies a massive bet on artificial intelligence. But Jassy argues the issue isn’t money—it’s speed. Amazon employee morale at new low after RTO mandate, layoffs The cuts cap off a rough stretch for Amazon’s corporate workforce. Then came October’s layoffs, followed by months of uncertainty about who would be next. Warehouse workers aren’t safe either.
Last year, Jassy forced employees back to the office five days a week — a move that drew widespread pushback internally.
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