Amazon targets as many as 30,000 corporate job cuts, sources say

Amazon AMZN.O is reportedly preparing to cut up to 30,000 corporate positions starting Tuesday, as part of a major cost-reduction effort aimed at correcting overhiring during the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Although the cuts represent only a fraction of Amazon’s 1.55 million-strong workforce, they account for nearly 10 percent of its 350,000 corporate employees — the largest round of layoffs since about 27,000 jobs were eliminated beginning in late 2022.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment, but the job reductions are expected to hit several divisions, including human resources (known internally as People Experience and Technology), devices and services, and operations. Managers from affected departments were briefed on how to communicate the layoffs following staff notifications due Tuesday morning.

Chief Executive Andy Jassy has been pushing to streamline management and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy. He introduced an anonymous feedback line that has already led to more than 450 process changes across the company. Jassy previously acknowledged that automation and the increasing use of artificial-intelligence tools would eventually displace some roles, particularly those involving routine or repetitive work.

“This latest move shows Amazon is beginning to realise meaningful productivity gains from AI across its corporate teams,” said Sky Canaves, an analyst at eMarketer. “It’s also under pressure to offset the heavy spending on AI infrastructure.”

The total number of cuts could change as the company reassesses its financial priorities. Reports indicate that human resources could see reductions of roughly 15 percent.

The layoffs come as Amazon’s cloud computing arm, AWS, continues to face slowing growth. AWS sales climbed 17.5 percent in the second quarter to $30.9 billion, lagging Microsoft Azure (39 percent growth) and Google Cloud (32 percent).

Despite the corporate cuts, Amazon plans to hire 250,000 seasonal workers for the upcoming holiday period — the same as in the past two years. Shares of Amazon closed 1.3 percent higher at $227.11 on Monday, ahead of its third-quarter earnings report due Thursday.

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