Amazon has cut around 30,000 corporate jobs in just three months. After laying off roughly 14,000 employees in October, the company has now confirmed another round of job cuts affecting 16,000 corporate workers by the end of January 2026.
The latest layoffs were confirmed by Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology at Amazon, in a message shared internally with employees. Back in October, reports had suggested that another wave of cuts could follow in January — and with the month now coming to a close, those reports have proven accurate.
In her message, Galetti explained that the job cuts are part of a longer restructuring process that has been ongoing since last year. She wrote, “we’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy. While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now.” According to her, this round of layoffs is simply the continuation of that effort.
She also addressed employee concerns about whether frequent layoffs could become the new normal at Amazon. Galetti said, “Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan. But just as we always have, every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate. That’s never been more important than it is today in a world that’s changing faster than ever.”
The wider shift behind these decisions had already been acknowledged by CEO Andy Jassy last year. In a blog post to employees, he openly spoke about how Amazon’s growing use of generative AI would reshape the workforce. “As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. It’s hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company,” he said.
For employees impacted by the layoffs, Galetti said US-based staff will be given 90 days to search for another role internally. The timeline may vary internationally depending on local and country-level requirements. Employees who are unable to find another role, as well as those who choose not to pursue one, will be offered severance pay, outplacement services, and health insurance benefits.
Despite the large-scale job cuts, Galetti noted that Amazon will continue hiring and investing in strategic areas that are important to the company’s future. However, she did not share details about which teams or roles those would involve.
