Amazon said today it is cutting 16,000 jobs across the company. This reduction comes after the e-commerce company laid off 14,000 people in October.
In a letter to employees, Beth Galetti, Senior VP of People Experience and Technology, said these layoffs occurred to “reduce layers, increase ownership and eliminate bureaucracy.” She noted that the reason for the second round of mass layoffs within three months was that several teams in the company had not yet completed their restructuring.
Galetti did not outright deny that there may be more job cuts at the company, but said the company is not trying to create a pattern of large layoffs every few months.
“Some of you may be wondering if this is the start of a new rhythm – announcing major reductions every few months. That’s not our plan. But just as we always have, each team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed and ability to invent for customers and make adjustments as necessary,” she said in a blog post.
In October, Amazon said it had 1.57 million employees and had recorded single-digit growth over the previous five quarters. according to the company’s Q3 2025 filings. The company will report fourth-quarter 2025 results next week.
In his latest blog post, Galetti said that despite these job cuts, the company will continue to hire in strategic areas.
Last year, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote a memo stating that thanks to AI, the company will need fewer people “doing some of the tasks done today, and more people doing other types of work.” He also indicated that the company’s workforce will decrease in the coming years.
Amazon sent an erroneous meeting invitation to numerous AWS employees discussing job cuts and a “Project Dawn” initiative, confusing employees, as reported by Business Insider. The invitation was canceled shortly afterwards.
On Tuesday, Amazon said it is closing its physical Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh Stores to focus on increasing same-day grocery delivery capacity. Instead, the company plans to expand Whole Foods’ footprint and open 100 new stores over the next few years.
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