Amazon is laying off 16,000 employees. This is part of the largest optimization in its history
Amazon will lay off 16 thousand employees in an attempt to get rid of bureaucracy and optimize the management structure / Photo: Koshiro K / Shutterstock
Amazon announced plans to cut about 16 thousand employees worldwide. This was part of the largest wave of layoffs among corporate staff in the history of the company, writes Barron's. Thus, the company expects to "optimize the management structure and eliminate bureaucracy," according to the message of Amazon's senior vice president for human resources and technology Beth Galetti.
Details
Employees in the U.S. will be offered 90 days to find a new position within the company, as well as severance and other support during the transition, Galetti said Wednesday, Jan. 28, in a corporate blog post. "We are working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers of management, increasing accountability and eliminating bureaucracy," she added. According to Galetti, Amazon does not plan to announce sweeping cuts every few months, but will continue to "make adjustments as needed."
At the end of October last year, the company had already announced the dismissal of 14 thousand people. Thus, the total number of announced layoffs from Amazon for the last three months will reach 30 thousand, Barron's points out, emphasizing that in the aggregate this means a reduction of almost 10% of Amazon's corporate staff. This is part of the largest corporate layoff program in the history of the online retailer, Barron's points out.
Bloomberg has different estimates. As of September 30, 2025, Amazon employed about 1.57 million people, the agency points out, noting that most of them were employed in warehouses. Bloomberg estimates the company's corporate workforce at about 350,000. The latest cuts amount to about 4.6% of that headcount, the agency calculates.
Amazon shares added 0.3% in the Jan. 28 premarket, up 6% YTD.
Context
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has previously repeatedly said he would cut managers at all levels following a massive hiring pandemic. Last year, he warned employees that the introduction of AI would lead to a reduction in headcount as Amazon automates its operations, Bloomberg writes.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
