Amazon slashes 16,000 roles in latest phase of a broader reset

• Amazon announced it's cutting around 16,000 roles as part of a broader reset.
• The company previously cut 14,000 jobs in October, citing cultural and efficiency shifts.
• CEO Andy Jassy is pursuing a cultural reset focused on stripping away bureaucracy.

Amazon said it is eliminating around 16,000 roles, marking its second round of mass job cuts since October, when it shed 14,000 corporate roles.

The latest reductions were announced on Wednesday by Amazon's senior vice president of people experience and technology, Beth Galetti, who described the move as part of broader efforts to cut back on bureaucracy inside the company.

"As I shared in October, we've been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy," wrote Galetti in a memo that was shared on Amazon's blog. "While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now."

Galetti added that Amazon would offer "most" US-based employees 90 days to search for a new role internally. Those who are unable to find a role or choose not to will be given support, including severance pay and health insurance benefits, she added.

The cuts underscore Amazon's push to operate more efficiently as it reshapes the organization amid rapid advances in AI. While the company initially linked the October layoffs to AI-driven changes, CEO Andy Jassy later said those reductions were more about cultural fit than cost savings or automation.

On Tuesday, some Amazon employees received a calendar invitation regarding job cuts that had apparently been sent early.

Earlier this week, Amazon also announced it would shutter its Amazon Go and Fresh stores, citing its failure to create a "truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model."

Amazon employs more than 1.5 million people globally, though its corporate workforce represents a relatively small share of that total, at roughly 350,000 employees.

In recent years, Amazon has trimmed management layers, tightened spending, overhauled performance systems, and ordered most corporate employees to return to the office five days a week.

Galetti acknowledged the numerous cuts in the memo, but didn't rule out further changes ahead. "Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm — where we announce broad reductions every few months," she wrote.

"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 cultural reset accelerated after the pandemic, when Amazon's explosive growth slowed. The company moved to rein in costs by shutting down unprofitable initiatives and shrinking what executives described as a bloated workforce. Last year, Jassy said efficiency gains from AI would eventually reduce Amazon's head count.

Amazon's moves mirror a broader trend across Big Tech, where companies have cut thousands of jobs while ramping up AI investment.

Microsoft said last year it would eliminate about 15,000 positions, with CEO Satya Nadella telling employees the company needed to stay focused on its AI transformation. Meta has also made AI-driven cuts, telling employees in its risk organization last year that their roles were being replaced by automation.

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