Amazon is preparing a second round of layoffs that could begin next week, moving closer to its target of cutting about 30,000 jobs.
The job cuts are expected to impact teams across AWS, retail, Prime Video and human resources.
CEO Andy Jassy earlier said the reductions are driven more by organisational culture and efficiency gains, including the growing use of AI.
Amazon is preparing for a second round of job cuts that could begin as early as next week, as the company moves ahead with its plan to reduce about 30,000 corporate roles.
The latest round of layoffs is expected to be similar in size to the first phase carried out in October 2025, when the e-commerce and cloud giant cut around 14,000 white-collar jobs, according to a Reuters report.
1 January 2026
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That earlier move accounted for roughly half of the company’s overall workforce reduction target.
Employees in several divisions, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), retail, Prime Video and the human resources unit known as People Experience and Technology, are likely to be affected. However, the final number of job losses and the exact teams involved could still change, the report added.
Amazon had initially linked the October layoffs to the growing adoption of AI. In an internal communication at the time, the company described AI as “the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet,” saying it allows businesses to innovate much faster.
However, CEO Andy Jassy later offered a different explanation. Speaking during Amazon’s third-quarter earnings call, Jassy had said the job cuts were “not really financially driven and it’s not even really AI-driven.” Instead, he pointed to cultural issues within the organisation, saying the company had developed too many layers of management over time.
Earlier in 2025, Jassy had also said that Amazon’s corporate workforce would gradually shrink as the company becomes more efficient through the use of AI.
Like many large corporations, Amazon has been increasingly using AI tools to automate routine tasks and assist with software development. The company showcased its latest AI models at its annual AWS cloud conference in December.
The planned 30,000 job cuts represent a small fraction of Amazon’s total workforce of about 1.58 million people, most of whom work in warehouses and fulfillment centres. However, the reductions amount to nearly 10% of its corporate staff and mark the largest layoff exercise in the company’s three-decade history, according to the report.
Employees affected in October were kept on the payroll for 90 days to allow them to apply for internal roles or find new jobs. That period is set to end on Monday, just as the next phase of layoffs is expected to begin.
