Amazon.com Inc. has confirmed plans to eliminate around 14,000 positions within its corporate workforce, a move unveiled just months after Chief Executive Andy Jassy indicated that expanding artificial intelligence capabilities would lead to a leaner headcount. As outlined in an internal memo from Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology. This latest round of reductions follows a pattern established over recent years, underscoring the company’s determination to adapt swiftly to technological disruption.
The cuts, which span divisions including logistics, payments, gaming, and cloud computing, form part of a wider initiative potentially affecting up to 30,000 roles—nearly 10 per cent of Amazon’s 350,000 corporate staff—according to sources cited by Reuters. Galetti described the changes as an extension of ongoing efforts to streamline operations by curbing bureaucracy, flattening hierarchies, and redirecting resources towards high-priority investments. While trimming in certain areas, Amazon intends to ramp up recruitment in strategic segments to fuel growth.
Jassy had earlier signalled this trajectory in a company-wide address, noting that generative AI’s rollout would automate routine tasks, thereby necessitating fewer personnel in some functions while creating demand elsewhere. As detailed in Amazon’s official update on generative AI. He projected that such efficiencies would shrink the overall corporate workforce in the coming years, allowing teams to innovate more rapidly in an era where AI rivals the internet’s transformative power.
These developments come against a backdrop of substantial AI outlays, with Amazon forecasting capital expenditure exceeding 100 billion dollars in 2025, primarily channelled into data centres and infrastructure to meet surging demand for services like Amazon Web Services. According to financial analyses from CNBC and Yahoo Finance. Investors appear unperturbed, with shares climbing 0.8 per cent midday on the announcement day, buoyed by expectations of enhanced productivity.
The corporate reductions represent about four per cent of Amazon’s white-collar employees, leaving its total global headcount of roughly 1.55 million—predominantly fulfilment centre workers—largely intact. As reported by Macrotrends and Exploding Topics. Affected staff will receive comprehensive support, including up to 90 days to seek internal redeployment, severance packages, outplacement assistance, and continued health benefits, reflecting Amazon’s emphasis on fair transitions.
This action echoes broader industry trends, where peers like Salesforce, Microsoft, and Workday are harnessing AI to supplant manual processes in customer service, sales, and coding. For instance, Microsoft has attributed over 500 million dollars in call centre savings to AI last year alone, while as much as 30 per cent of certain projects’ code is now AI-generated. Amazon’s strategy aligns with Jassy’s vision of a more agile entity, unburdened by pandemic-era over-hiring and poised to capitalise on AI’s potential.
As Amazon prepares to disclose third-quarter earnings on 30 October, the focus will sharpen on balancing these efficiencies against ballooning AI investments. With the e-commerce behemoth posting robust revenue growth, the layoffs underscore a pivotal shift: prioritising technological edge over sheer scale to sustain dominance in a fiercely competitive landscape.