Amazon to cut about 14,000 corporate roles in new layoff round

Amazon is set to begin another major round of corporate layoffs next week, with about 14,000 positions expected to be cut, according to a leading news agency.

The move would mark the company’s second large-scale reduction since October 2025 and would take Amazon’s total planned job cuts to roughly 30,000 roles.

This would be the largest workforce reduction in the company’s nearly 30-year history. Amazon had eliminated a similar number of white-collar jobs in October.

Employees across Amazon Web Services, retail operations, Prime Video, and the human resources unit, known internally as People Experience and Technology, are among those likely to be affected, Reuters reported.

During Amazon’s third-quarter earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy offered a different explanation for the restructuring than earlier company messaging.

“It’s not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI driven. It’s culture,” Jassy said, pointing to growing bureaucracy and organizational complexity as key reasons behind the cuts.

In contrast, an October internal memo had highlighted artificial intelligence as a major force reshaping the company, calling it “the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet.”

Jassy later said the reductions are intended to flatten management layers and restore faster decision-making.

The planned layoffs would affect close to 10% of Amazon’s corporate workforce of about 350,000 employees while representing less than 2% of its overall global headcount of around 1.58 million, most of whom work in logistics and fulfillment roles.

Beth Galetti, senior vice president of People Experience and Technology, addressed the layoffs in an internal memo, saying, “Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well.”

She added that long-term competitiveness requires Amazon to operate with fewer layers and clearer ownership.

Employees impacted by the October layoffs were given 90 days to secure other roles within the company or seek external opportunities.

Similar measures are expected for those affected in the upcoming round, including severance packages, outplacement support, and extended health insurance coverage.

Jassy has also introduced an anonymous internal feedback system aimed at identifying inefficiencies. The initiative has received more than 1,500 submissions and led to over 450 process changes.

The broader restructuring effort includes a mandatory five-day return-to-office policy, though sources said it has not resulted in the level of voluntary exits the company had anticipated.