Amazon Job Cuts: Amazon inadvertently alerted some employees about impending job cuts on Tuesday after an internal notice was sent out ahead of schedule, effectively confirming a fresh round of layoffs.
According to CNBC, staff in Amazon’s cloud arm received a message referring to “organizational changes” within the company. Reuters reported that the communication appeared to have been issued prematurely, as the layoffs were reportedly planned to be formally announced on Wednesday morning.
“Changes like this are hard on everyone,” Colleen Aubrey, Senior Vice President of Applied AI Solutions at Amazon Web Services (AWS), wrote in the email seen by CNBC. “These decisions are difficult and are made thoughtfully as we position our organization and AWS for future success,” the message said.
The note also referenced a post by Amazon’s HR chief Beth Galetti, stating that “impacted colleagues” in the US, Canada and Costa Rica had already been notified about losing their roles. Reuters added that some AWS employees who received the message said on Slack that a meeting scheduled for Wednesday was quickly cancelled.
Amazon layoffs this week
Reuters had earlier reported that Amazon was preparing to cut thousands of corporate jobs starting this week, although the company has not formally confirmed the move or directly notified all affected employees. Roles across AWS, retail, Prime Video and human resources were expected to be impacted, according to people familiar with the matter. The overall scale of the latest reductions remains unclear.
In October, Amazon reportedly laid off around 14,000 employees as part of a broader plan to trim nearly 30,000 corporate roles. On Tuesday, the company also reduced headcount in its Fresh grocery and Go store divisions as it works to shut some physical outlets and convert others into Whole Foods locations, though it did not specify numbers.
If the previously flagged 30,000 corporate job cuts are fully carried out, they would account for a small share of Amazon’s roughly 1.58 million global workforce but close to 10% of its corporate staff. CEO Andy Jassy has said the layoffs are aimed at reducing management layers and internal bureaucracy.
