Amazon Braces for Another Wave of White-Collar Layoffs as Workforce Reset Continues

Amazon is preparing for a fresh round of corporate job reductions as early as next week, according to individuals familiar with internal deliberations. This move is part of the company’s larger ambition to reduce roughly 30,000 white-collar roles, a plan that has been unfolding gradually over recent months.

Back in October, the Seattle-based tech giant eliminated close to 14,000 corporate positions—nearly half of the total reduction first reported earlier. Sources suggest that the upcoming round may mirror last year’s scale and could commence as soon as Tuesday. Those aware of the situation spoke on condition of anonymity, citing restrictions on discussing company strategy.

Amazon has declined to offer any official comment on the matter.

Employees across several divisions are expected to be impacted, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), retail operations, Prime Video, and the human resources wing known internally as People Experience and Technology. That said, insiders caution that the precise contours of the layoffs are still fluid and subject to last-minute revision.

When the October cuts were announced, Amazon linked the decision to the accelerating influence of artificial intelligence. In an internal communication, leadership described AI as the most disruptive innovation since the advent of the internet, crediting it with enabling unprecedented speed in business transformation.

Yet CEO Andy Jassy later offered a more nuanced explanation. Speaking to analysts during the third-quarter earnings call, he clarified that the reductions were not primarily driven by financial stress or AI adoption. Instead, he pointed to an entrenched cultural issue—excessive bureaucracy.

“Over time, you accumulate more people and more layers,” Jassy explained, suggesting that organizational sprawl had begun to impede agility. Earlier in 2025, he had already signaled that Amazon’s corporate headcount would likely contract as AI-powered efficiencies took hold.

Across corporate America, companies are increasingly leaning on AI to automate repetitive tasks, generate software code, and deploy autonomous agents that reduce dependence on human labor. Amazon itself showcased a suite of new AI models at its annual AWS cloud conference in December, underscoring its deep investment in the technology.

Even if the full 30,000-job reduction materializes, it would still represent a relatively small slice of Amazon’s total workforce of approximately 1.58 million employees. However, it would amount to nearly 10% of its corporate staff. The bulk of Amazon’s employees continue to work in warehouses and fulfillment centers.

If completed, this would mark the most extensive layoff in Amazon’s three-decade history, surpassing the roughly 27,000 jobs cut in 2022.

Workers affected in the October round were kept on payroll for 90 days, allowing them time to pursue internal opportunities or seek roles elsewhere. That grace period concludes on Monday, just as the next phase of restructuring appears poised to begin.