The email arrived at 6:03 AM, and Javier’s heart sank before he even opened it. He’d seen enough of these to know the generic subject line meant only one thing. His hunch proved correct; another round of layoffs at Amazon, impacting roughly 16,000 employees, was about to turn his life upside down.
Just months after the company cut thousands of corporate jobs last fall, the news rippled through the tech world Wednesday morning. The announcement, delivered via blog post by Amazon’s Senior VP of People Experience and Technology, Beth Galetti, follows a previous reduction in October that affected around 14,000 corporate workers. According to the post, 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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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 (€166.8 billion) in the three months ending September 30.
The Human Cost of Streamlining: Real Stories Beyond the Press Release
Think about the last time you reorganized your closet. You likely Marie Kondo’d it, purging items that no longer “sparked joy.” Now, scale that up to a global corporation. Amazon’s moves aren’t just about spreadsheets; they represent individuals and families facing uncertainty.
The announcement of 16,000 layoffs isn’t simply a matter of “reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy,” as Galetti put it. It’s about real people losing their livelihoods. These aren’t just numbers on a balance sheet; they’re developers, marketers, and support staff—people with mortgages, families, and dreams.
What is Amazon’s strategy behind these layoffs?
The official line points to streamlining, but a deeper look suggests something else. The company clearly wants to be more agile and competitive in the AI space. The need to “operate more leanly,” as Galetti stated, suggests a reallocation of resources toward AI development and integration. Think of Amazon right now as a coiled spring, compressing its workforce to release more energy into specific areas. They are shedding weight so they can run faster toward the opportunities presented by the rise of AI.
“Not Really AI Driven, It’s Culture”: Decoding Andy Jassy’s Message
During a recent all-hands meeting, I heard a former Amazon employee describe the company culture as “innovate or evaporate.” Jassy’s claim that the layoffs are “culture” driven may hold a grain of truth. The push for greater efficiency and individual ownership could be a way to weed out those who aren’t adapting quickly enough. The message is clear: adapt to the new, AI-powered reality, or risk becoming obsolete.
Jassy’s statements and Galetti’s blog posts hint at a longer-term shift. The constant refrain of “ownership” and “removing bureaucracy” suggests a desire to flatten the organization and empower individual teams. But the elephant in the room remains: AI.
How is Amazon balancing layoffs with continued hiring and investment?
The narrative is one of strategic reallocation. Amazon is shedding roles deemed redundant while simultaneously investing heavily in areas like AI and cloud computing. This is classic corporate restructuring. It’s about optimizing resources for future growth, even if it means painful cuts in the short term. The goal is to emerge leaner, faster, and more competitive. One can see this situation as a high-stakes poker game, where Amazon is folding certain hands to invest more heavily in others.
The AI Factor: Can Amazon Truly Deny Its Influence on Layoffs?
The official stance is that AI isn’t the *primary* driver of the layoffs. But is that the whole story? The timing is certainly suspect. With Amazon investing heavily in AI and machine learning, it’s reasonable to assume that some roles are becoming obsolete or automated.
While Jassy downplays AI as the *sole* reason, he has acknowledged its potential impact on the workforce. His statement that AI will lead to “efficiency gains” and a reduction in the “total corporate workforce” speaks volumes. It’s a tacit admission that AI is playing a role, even if it’s not the only factor.
What does this mean for the future of work at Amazon and beyond?
These layoffs serve as a stark reminder of the changing nature of work. As AI continues to evolve, companies will need to adapt, and that adaptation may involve difficult decisions about their workforce. For employees, it means embracing lifelong learning and developing skills that complement AI, rather than compete with it. The question we should all be asking is whether Amazon’s approach is a harbinger of things to come across the industry, forcing us all to confront the uneasy realities of technological advancement.