The layoffs fear had intensified after the reports said that the tech giant Amazon is likely to engage in another round of layoffs in May 2026, a move
likely to impact 14,000 employees. These possible layoffs were mentioned in the job forum Blind, where verified employees discuss issues with their organisation anonymously, and Chinese tech portal Lei Feng Network. These reports have said that the departments such as Amazon Web Services, retail and human resources will be affected by these layoffs. The job forum Blind had claimed that as per the insider knowledge, the company may engage in layoffs as a part of its restructuring efforts. However, Amazon has denied media reports claiming around 14,000 more employees would be fired in May. "These reports are false and not based in fact,” Amazon said. It is to be noted that in June last year, Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, in a memo to staff said that with AI getting integrated across the company’s functioning, Amazon will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today. Since October 2025, Amazon had already cut nearly 30,000 jobs, amounting to nearly 10 percent of its corporate staff, and signaled that more reductions could still be ahead. Amazon has strong investment in AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, and is reportedly planning to spend over $125 billion in data centres. The entertainment giant Disney is also set to lay off 1,000 employees in the coming weeks, coming as one of the first significant moves under the new chief executive officer, Josh D’Amaro. Since Bob Iger, predecessor of D’Amaro, returned as CEO in 2022, Disney has laid off over 8,000 people. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the plans for the coming layoffs began before D’Amaro took over. Recently, the tech giant Oracle has started one of the biggest layoffs, with as many as 30,000 employees worldwide to be affected, comprising 12,000 workers in India. The layoffs come with a strict condition: workers must complete the paperwork sent via DocuSign before receiving any severance benefits. In simple words: no signature, no payout. The company has yet to issue an official public statement addressing either the layoffs or the terms attached to severance.
