Amazon Laying Off 16,000 as It Increases ‘Ownership’ and Removes ‘Bureaucracy’

Amazon announced another round of layoffs Wednesday morning, impacting roughly 16,000 employees, just months after the company cut thousands of corporate jobs last fall.

The announcement came in a blog post by Amazon’s Senior VP of People Experience and Technology, Beth Galetti, and follows a previous round of layoffs in October that affected about 14,000 corporate workers. Amazon said U.S.-based employees will have time to search for new roles within the company, while those who are unable to find one or choose not to will receive a severance package.

“Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months,†wrote Galetti. “That’s not our plan. But just as we always have, every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate. That’s never been more important than it is today in a world that’s changing faster than ever.â€

While Galetti framed the layoffs as part of routine organizational adjustments, her message did little to ease fears that more cuts could be coming. After all, “That’s not our plan. But…†is not a phrase anyone wants to hear.

She added that Amazon is still hiring and investing in strategic areas that are “critical†to the company’s future. It feels fair to assume that one of these areas is AI.

So far, Amazon has been careful not to say outright whether AI is wholly responsible for its recent job cuts.

In the announcement for the October layoffs, Galetti described AI as the most transformative technology the company has ever seen, saying it allows companies to innovate faster than ever before and requires Amazon to operate more “leanly.â€

But during an investor call in October, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy pushed back on the idea that the company’s recent layoffs were driven primarily by AI or financial pressures.

“What I would tell you is, you know, the announcement that we made a few days ago was not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI driven, not right now at least,†Jassy told investors. “It’s culture.â€

Wednesday’s blog post echoed that same explanation.

“As I shared in October, we’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy. While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now,†Galetti wrote.

Still, Jassy has previously been more candid about the long-term impact AI could have on Amazon’s workforce. In a blog post last summer, he acknowledged that as the company rolls out AI tools across its business, the technology will likely lead to fewer jobs overall.

He wrote, “We expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.â€

Despite the layoffs, Amazon’s business is booming. The company is set to report its final quarterly earnings for 2025 next week, but in its most recent earnings report, Amazon said sales rose 13% to $180.2 billion in the three months ending September 30.