US online retail and cloud computing giant Amazon moves to lay off 16,000 corporate employees as part of efforts to streamline operations amid growing competition in artificial intelligence (AI). Beth Galetti, the company’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, said in a blog post on Wednesday that the company will give most US-based employees 90 days to search for a new role internally, along with severance and other transition support.
Galetti said the company has been working to “strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.” She added that it is “not our plan” to roll out large-scale layoffs every few months, though Amazon will continue to “make adjustments as appropriate.”
Amazon recent layoffs
Employees were notified of the layoffs earlier on Wednesday, though some had already been alerted that cuts were coming. Amazon Senior Vice President Colleen Aubrey had prematurely scheduled a meeting titled “Project Dawn,” which referenced “impacted colleagues” in the United States, Canada, and Costa Rica, according to Bloomberg.
The email, which reportedly said “changes like this are hard on everyone,” quickly circulated on internal message boards and social media platforms such as Reddit, where employees were already discussing the expected job losses.
Amazon did not provide details of the latest cuts or specify which divisions would be affected, saying only that “every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate", as per AFP.
Total announced job reductions reach 30,000 over 3 months
With the latest round of cuts, Amazon’s total announced job reductions have reached 30,000 over the past three months, following an earlier round in October. Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy has repeatedly mentioned he wants to trim management layers that expanded during the pandemic hiring surge. He also indicated last year that advances in AI would reduce the company’s workforce as more operations become automated.
As of 30 September 2025, Amazon employed roughly 1.57 million people, the majority of whom work in warehouses. Its corporate staff numbers about 350,000, meaning the newest layoffs account for roughly 4.6% of that group.
In its October quarterly earnings report, Amazon said it had spent $1.8 billion on severance costs related to planned job cuts.
The company will release its full-year 2025 results on 5 February.
