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Amazon is about to axe thousands more jobs, ratcheting up efforts to streamline bureaucracy and plans to start rolling out the terminations as early as next week, according to reports.
The layoffs arrive a few months after the company announced it was cutting 14,000 roles. At the time, Amazon signaled that more cuts could come in 2026 as it found “additional places we can remove layers.”
Managers were given a choice to make cuts in October or wait until the new year, say sources. Staff at Amazon Web Services, Prime Video, retail and HR departments are among those likely to be affected, according to the reports.
The cuts, conducted in rounds on either side of Amazon’s busy holiday quarter, echo layoffs the Seattle-based company instituted in late 2022 and early 2023 that ultimately laid-off about 27,000 people.
Reuters reported the latest terminations earlier on Thursday. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.
Last summer, CEO Andy Jassy, highlighted that Amazon was likely to reduce its staff count over the coming years as it increases its use of artificial intelligence for many tasks.
The company employed around 1.57 million at the end of September last year, with about 350,000 of these across its corporate workforce, while the majority of employees work in its warehouses.
AI's 'tsunami' impact on jobs
The move comes as the head of the International Monetary Fund warned that AI is set to hit the global labour market like a “tsunami”.
Speaking at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the firm’s research shows that 60% of jobs in advanced economies will be affected by AI in the coming years, alongside 40% of jobs globally.
Roles will be “enhanced, eliminated, or transformed,” she said. While workers whose jobs are enhanced tend to earn more and spend more in their local economies, entry-level positions and younger roles are the most at risk.
