Amazon is preparing to eliminate as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning Tuesday, marking one of its largest workforce reductions since the company cut 27,000 positions in late 2022, according to Reuters.
The layoffs will affect roughly 10% of Amazon's corporate staff, or about 30,000 of its 350,000 white-collar employees, though the total represents a fraction of its global workforce of 1.55 million. The move comes as the e-commerce and cloud giant continues to trim expenses and restructure operations following heavy pandemic-era hiring.
Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But internal preparations began Monday, when managers in affected departments were instructed to complete training sessions on how to inform employees. Layoff notifications will begin going out by email Tuesday morning, the people said.
The cuts are expected to hit multiple divisions, including human resources-known internally as People Experience and Technology-devices and services, and operations. According to Reuters, a reduction of about 15% is being considered in the HR division alone. The scale of the layoffs could change as the company reevaluates financial priorities ahead of its third-quarter earnings report on Thursday.
Chief Executive Andy Jassy has been steadily pursuing what he calls a "simpler and faster" corporate structure, seeking to eliminate bureaucracy and management overlap. He launched an anonymous internal complaint line to flag inefficiencies, which he said earlier this year generated 1,500 submissions and led to more than 450 process changes.
Jassy has also signaled that automation and artificial intelligence will play a growing role in reshaping Amazon's corporate operations. In a memo reported by The Wall Street Journal in June, Jassy wrote, "As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done." He added that, over time, automation "will reduce our total corporate workforce."
Amazon has already slowed hiring and quietly pared headcount across smaller business units in recent months, cutting roles in communications, sustainability, and podcasting earlier this year. The company's ongoing investments in AI infrastructure-including a planned $100 billion buildout of data centers-underscore its push to streamline traditional roles while expanding in emerging technologies.
Amazon shares rose 1.2% to $226.80 on Monday following the Reuters report. Investors have largely supported the company's efforts to cut costs, particularly as the broader tech sector faces rising job losses tied to automation.
