Amazon announced on Tuesday that it plans to reduce its corporate workforce by 14,000 jobs. The company stated this move is aimed at reducing bureaucracy, removing organizational layers, and investing more heavily in its artificial intelligence strategy.
This is the e-commerce giant’s second-largest round of job cuts, following the 22,000 positions it eliminated in 2022. As of October 31, 2024, Amazon employed nearly 1.2 million people globally. More than 360,000 of those employees worked in corporate divisions, performing administrative, sales, and executive roles.
In a memo to employees, Beth Galetti, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology, explained that the restructuring is intended to make the company stronger by shifting resources toward its most significant strategic initiatives. Galetti acknowledged that the decision may be questioned, especially given the company’s solid performance, but argued that the layoffs are necessary because the world is changing rapidly.
She described the current generation of AI as the most transformative technology since the internet, enabling companies to innovate at an unprecedented pace. Galetti wrote that Amazon needs a leaner organization with fewer layers and more ownership to move as quickly as possible for its customers and business.
These layoffs coincide with major investments by Amazon in technology infrastructure to build more computing capacity for its AI services. In June, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy indicated in a staff memo that the company would require fewer employees as it continues to deploy more AI agents. He stated that while the exact net effect on jobs is hard to predict, he expects the corporate workforce to shrink over the next few years as the company gains efficiency from widespread AI use.
This strategic focus is reflected in the company’s spending. According to its quarterly report, Amazon spent 55.6 billion dollars in the first half of its current financial year, primarily on technology infrastructure to support the growth of its cloud services business, Amazon Web Services.
The company’s revenue increased by 13 percent to 167.7 billion dollars in the second quarter compared to the same period a year earlier. Amazon Web Services accounted for 18 percent of the company’s total net sales.
A report from Reuters on Monday indicated that the company was planning to cut up to 30,000 jobs across departments such as human resources, devices and services, and operations. Amazon has also made smaller job cuts in other divisions, including a reduction in positions within its Communications and Sustainability departments in January.
Amazon stated that it is offering most affected employees a 90-day period to search for a new role within the company. The company’s recruiters will prioritize these internal candidates for open positions. For employees who cannot move to another internal role, Amazon will provide severance pay, outplacement services, and health insurance benefits, among other support.
Galetti also noted that in 2026, the company will continue to remove organizational layers and realize further efficiency gains, even as it continues hiring in key strategic areas.