American tech and e-commerce giant Amazon plans to cut thousands of corporate jobs next week, as part of its plan to trim its workforce by 30,000, Reuters reported on 22 January, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
These layoffs — among the company's largest — are likely to impact white-collar roles across divisions, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), the People Experience and Technology unit (human resources), Prime Video and retail, it added. Sources added that the plans could change.
In October last year, Amazon culled 14,000 white-collar jobs (around half of its target of 30,000), and is expected to do the same this year, as per the sources.
A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment, the report added.
How many employees does Amazon have?
According to a Bloomberg report, as of September 2025, Amazon had around 1.57 million employees — a majority of whom worked in its warehouses.
Its corporate workforce comprised around 3,50,000 people, it added.
The Reuters report added that 30,000 cuts would be 10% of the company's corporate workforce. Notably, this would be Amazon's largest layoff in 30 years, after it cut 27,000 roles in 2022.
Those laid off in October were given 90 days on payroll to either seek jobs externally or find other roles internally. This period expires on 26 January 2026 (Monday), it added.
Artificial intelligence-led job cuts?
The Reuters report added that the Seattle-based online retailer's job cuts in October were tied to increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) software. It cited an internal memo which stated: “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.”
However, later during the company's Q3 earnings call, CEO Andy Jassy told analysts that the cuts were not AI-driven or financially driven, but rather due to “culture”. He added, “You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers”.
In 2025, Jassy said he expected the company's corporate workforce to reduce as AI efficiencies increase.
The Reuters report added that to save costs, corporations are increasingly using AI to write code for their software and adopting AI agents that automate routine tasks. Amazon's AWS itself touted its latest AI models during its annual cloud computing conference in December.
(With inputs from Agencies)
