Amazon has confirmed plans to cut about 14,000 jobs from its corporate workforce, saying it needs to become “leaner” to adapt to the opportunities and challenges created by artificial intelligence.
The US tech giant said on Tuesday that the latest round of redundancies will affect its global corporate staff as part of a wider effort to simplify management structures and invest more heavily in artificial intelligence (AI).
In a note to employees, Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice-president of People Experience and Technology, said the move would help the company “move faster and focus on what matters most” to customers.
“AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet,” she wrote. “We’re convinced that we need to be organised more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”
While the company has not said which departments will be affected, the cuts are expected to impact Amazon’s offices across North America, Europe, and Asia. The firm employs about 350,000 corporate staff worldwide and 1.5 million people in total, including warehouse and logistics workers.
Focus shifts from expansion to efficiency
The announcement comes despite Amazon’s strong financial performance. In July, the company posted quarterly sales of $167.7bn (£125bn) — a 13% rise on the previous year — comfortably beating Wall Street forecasts.
However, executives have been open about the need to adjust as AI begins to reshape how technology companies operate. Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy has said the company is investing heavily in machine learning and AI-driven systems that could eventually handle some of the tasks currently performed by humans.
Speaking earlier this year, Mr Jassy acknowledged that new technology would inevitably change the company’s workforce.
“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” he said.
Not the first wave of cuts
The latest announcement adds to a series of job reductions at Amazon over the past two years. Between 2022 and 2023, the company laid off around 27,000 corporate employees as part of a post-pandemic restructuring effort.
Like many of its rivals, Amazon hired aggressively during Covid-19 to cope with the surge in online shopping. But as consumer behaviour normalised, the company shifted its focus from expansion to cost control.
Industry analysts say the latest cuts reflect a broader shift across Silicon Valley as major tech firms adapt to the rise of AI tools that automate coding, data management and customer service.
Ben Barringer, a technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said the move was “part of a wider reality check” for big tech.
“AI allows these companies to do more with less,” he said. “We’re already seeing some traditional software and support roles disappear, and job losses like this are, unfortunately, inevitable.”
Support for affected staff
Amazon said it would work closely with those affected to help them find new positions within the company, while others will receive severance pay and career transition support.
The firm declined to say how many of the redundancies would affect UK operations.
Amazon will report its next quarterly results on Thursday, and investors are expected to pay close attention to how its AI strategy — and the cost-cutting tied to it — will shape the company’s growth over the coming year.
