Amazon to Cut 16,000 Jobs Worldwide as Tech Giant Pushes Deeper Into AI
By Aswin Anil | January 29, 2026
Amazon has confirmed it will cut 16,000 corporate jobs worldwide, marking one of the largest workforce reductions in the company’s history as it restructures operations and accelerates its push into artificial intelligence.
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The layoffs complete a broader plan to eliminate around 30,000 roles since October, representing nearly 10% of Amazon’s global corporate workforce. The cuts will not affect warehouse and delivery workers, who make up the majority of Amazon’s 1.5 million employees.
Why Amazon Is Cutting Jobs
According to Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, Beth Galetti, the reductions are aimed at “reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.”
In other words, Amazon believes it has become too management-heavy after years of rapid expansion, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when online shopping demand surged and hiring accelerated aggressively.
CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly argued that the company’s culture has suffered from excessive organizational layers, slowing decision-making and innovation. He has emphasized that the layoffs are driven by structural changes rather than short-term financial pressure.
AI Is Reshaping Amazon’s Workforce
While Amazon insists the cuts are not directly tied to budget constraints, artificial intelligence is playing a central role in reshaping the company’s workforce.
Amazon is investing tens of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure, including custom chips, data centers, and AI-powered cloud services through its subsidiary Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Executives have acknowledged that AI tools are increasingly capable of handling tasks once performed by white-collar workers — from administrative work to software development. Jassy said last year that automation would inevitably reduce the need for certain corporate roles.
Which Teams Are Affected
Amazon has not released a detailed breakdown of which divisions are impacted. However, employees across multiple units — including AWS, Alexa, Prime Video, advertising, devices, Kindle, and logistics optimization — have reported being affected.
Anxiety spread earlier this week after some AWS employees received an internal email mistakenly referencing the layoff plan as “Project Dawn”, unsettling staff before official announcements were made.
Galetti said further adjustments remain possible, though she emphasized that Amazon does not intend to announce broad layoffs every few months.
Closures and Strategic Retreats
The job cuts come alongside other strategic pullbacks. Amazon recently announced it will close its remaining brick-and-mortar Fresh grocery stores and Go convenience markets, ending years of experimentation in physical retail.
The company has also dropped its Amazon One biometric payment system, which allowed customers to pay using palm scans — a sign that Amazon is narrowing its focus to higher-return investments.
A Broader Tech Industry Trend
Amazon’s layoffs are part of a wider restructuring across the technology sector. Microsoft, Meta, Pinterest, ASML, HP, Oracle, UPS, and others have all announced significant job cuts over the past year.
Many tech companies expanded rapidly during the pandemic and are now recalibrating as growth normalizes and AI alters how work is done.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, executives acknowledged that while AI will eliminate certain jobs, it will also create new roles — though not necessarily at the same scale or pace.
Financial Impact and What Comes Next
Amazon spent approximately $1.8 billion on severance costs tied to job cuts last year. The company is set to release its full-year 2025 earnings on February 5, which investors will watch closely for signals about future restructuring.
Despite massive investments in AI and cloud computing, Amazon shares fell about 2% following news of the layoffs, reflecting investor concerns about growth and rising costs.
For employees, the announcement underscores a new reality in big tech: even the world’s largest and most profitable companies are no longer immune to deep structural change.
The Bigger Picture
Amazon’s decision highlights how artificial intelligence is not just a technological shift, but a workforce transformation. As automation improves, companies are rethinking how many people they need — and where.
While Amazon says it will try to redeploy affected employees where possible, the cuts represent a significant moment for the tech industry — one that signals a long-term shift rather than a temporary correction.
For now, Amazon is betting that a leaner organization, powered by AI and cloud infrastructure, will keep it competitive in an increasingly crowded and fast-moving tech landscape.
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