Amazon Plans Thousands More Corporate Job Cuts in Second Major Layoff Wave

Amazon is preparing to carry out another round of corporate job cuts next week, as the tech and e-commerce giant moves closer to its goal of trimming roughly 30,000 white-collar roles, according to people familiar with the matter. The move would mark the second major wave of layoffs in less than a year and could become the largest workforce reduction in the company’s three-decade history.

Sources say the cuts could begin as early as Tuesday and may mirror the scale of the October mass layoffs, when Amazon eliminated around 14,000 corporate positions — about half of its overall reduction target.

Which Amazon Teams Are Affected?

The upcoming job cuts are expected to impact multiple high-profile divisions across the company. Roles within Amazon Web Services (AWS), retail, Prime Video, and human resources — internally referred to as People Experience and Technology — are slated to be affected, though the full scope remains unclear.

Amazon declined to comment on the plans, and sources cautioned that details could still change before announcements are made.

If completed as planned, the total reduction of 30,000 corporate jobs would represent nearly 10% of Amazon’s corporate workforce, even as the company continues to employ approximately 1.58 million people globally. The majority of Amazon’s employees work in fulfillment centers and warehouses, which are not expected to be heavily impacted.

CEO Andy Jassy: “It’s Culture”

While Amazon initially linked last year’s layoffs to the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, CEO Andy Jassy later offered a different explanation. During the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Jassy told analysts that the cuts were “not really financially driven” and “not even really AI-driven.”

Instead, he pointed to company culture and excessive bureaucracy. “You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers,” Jassy said, describing a corporate structure that had become too complex over time.

Earlier in 2025, Jassy had already signaled that Amazon’s corporate workforce would likely shrink over the long term as efficiency gains from AI and automation took hold.

AI’s Growing Role in Corporate Downsizing

Even as Amazon distances the current layoffs from AI, the technology continues to reshape corporate staffing across the tech industry. Companies are increasingly relying on AI tools to write software code, automate routine tasks, and deploy AI agents to reduce dependence on human labor.

Amazon highlighted its latest AI models during its annual AWS cloud computing conference in December, underscoring how central artificial intelligence has become to its long-term strategy.

What Comes Next for Affected Workers?

Employees impacted by the October layoffs were allowed to remain on payroll for 90 days, a period during which they could apply for internal roles or seek employment elsewhere. That grace period expires Monday, just days before the next round of cuts is expected to begin.

Amazon previously cut around 27,000 jobs in 2022, but the current reduction — if fully executed — would surpass that figure, making it the largest layoff in the company’s history.