Amazon is reportedly planning a second round of job cuts this week in a bid to reduce its 30,000 strong corporate workforce. This follows a first round of job cuts in October 2025 where around 14,000 white-collar jobs were lost.
The lay-offs, affecting those in company departments such as web services, Prime Video, HR, and retail, were expected to begin on yesterday. Collectively known as “People Experience and Technology,” these employees currently support internal systems, customer-facing platforms, and key operational functions throughout the business. Reports suggest Amazon’s plans may yet change, however.
Rise of AI tied to cuts
According to further reports, October’s round of redundancies were largely down to the growth of AI software, with an internal letter citing, “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.” In other words, AI lets us do more with fewer people, faster, and cheaper.
Nevertheless, CEO Andy Jassy later explained that the job cuts were “not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI-driven.” Instead, he said the reason was the company’s “culture.” He said, “You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers.” If this is the case, these lay-offs may be a means of reducing layers of management and processes to improve efficiency.
It’s no secret that organisations across the world are increasing their adoption and use of AI technologies to automate routine tasks in an effort to lower outgoings and their reliance on people. Amazon, for instance, promoted its latest AI models at its annual AWS cloud computing conference in December 2025, coinciding with its announcement on staff reductions.
Amazon’s largest lay off
The lay-off of 30,000 workers would be Amazon’s most significant staff reduction in its history, slightly more than in 2022 when the company trimmed 27,000 jobs. Those affected in October 2025 were kept on a payroll for 90 days, a period which expired 26 January. Staff were told they could apply for new jobs in the company or seek outside employment during that time. It is currently unclear whether those affected in these latest redundancies will have the same or similar arrangements.
Although a vast number, 30,000 represents just 1.9% of the company’s 1.58 million employees, the majority of whom are based in warehouses and fulfilment centres. However, the figure does make up almost 10% of its corporate workforce.
Amazon may be known for its price cuts on Prime Day, but these cuts are hitting people, not products. Whether this is down to AI’s rising power or by bureaucracy, the impact is apparent.
(Image source: “Amazon Delivery – DSC04527_ep” by Eric.Parker is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.)
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