Amazon has confirmed plans to cut thousands of corporate jobs as part of what executives describe as a company-wide effort to “reduce bureaucracy” and move faster amid the rise of artificial intelligence.
In an internal memo shared with employees on Tuesday, Beth Galetti, senior vice president of People Experience and Technology, said the company is “making organizational changes across Amazon that will impact some of our teammates,” estimating an overall reduction of roughly 14,000 roles.
The announcement came hours after The Dallas Express reported that Amazon was preparing to slash as many as 30,000 corporate positions — potentially the largest workforce reduction in its history — while expanding its automation initiatives and facing new scrutiny over its reliance on foreign work visas.
Galetti said the cuts are part of an ongoing plan to “operate like the world’s largest startup” by removing management layers, increasing ownership, and aligning resources with the company’s “biggest bets.”
“We need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business,” Galetti wrote. “This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet.”
Amazon has said it will offer affected workers 90 days to apply for new roles internally, along with severance pay, health-insurance extensions, and outplacement support for those who leave the company.
While Galetti framed the move as a way to strengthen the organization, internal projections reviewed by The New York Times reportedly show Amazon expects to automate roughly 75% of its warehouse operations by 2027 — replacing more than half a million jobs with robotic systems.
Lawmakers have also questioned Amazon’s continued use of the H-1B visa program even as it reduces domestic headcount.
In a media statement, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said, “No company has created more jobs in America over the past decade than Amazon. We’re actively hiring at operations facilities across the country and recently announced plans to fill 250,000 positions for the holiday season.”
Amazon’s latest reductions follow approximately 27,000 cuts since 2022 and come as the company doubles down on integrating AI tools across its retail, cloud, and logistics divisions — a shift Chief Executive Andy Jassy said earlier this year would “change the type of work” needed inside the company.