Amazon Layoffs To Begin Soon, Thousands of Employees Face Termination

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Corporate employees across AWS, retail, and HR divisions now await notification as the second phase of 30,000-job restructuring commences

Amazon employees across the United States are bracing for impact as the e-commerce giant's largest-ever workforce reduction officially begins this week. Following our earlier report on the planned layoffs, the layoffs commence on 26 January and will continue through May across Washington, California, Virginia, and New Jersey.

Regulatory filings confirm between 1,001 and 2,500 workers in Washington state will lose their jobs in the first wave. The cuts form part of a sweeping restructure that could ultimately eliminate up to 30,000 corporate positions by May 2026, making it the most significant workforce reduction in the company's three-decade history.

The Timing Couldn't Be Worse

Today's date carries particular weight for those already caught in the crossfire. Workers affected by October's initial round of 14,000 layoffs were told they could remain on payroll for 90 days while seeking internal transfers or external employment. That transition period expires today.

Sources say the layoffs are expected to hit several business units: Amazon Web Services (AWS), retail and e-commerce, Prime Video, and even parts of human resources. According to internal data reported by GeekWire, more than 78% of eliminated roles were held by mid-level managers, particularly those with designations from L5 to L7 in Amazon's retail division.

A 'Cultural Reset,' Not Cost-Cutting?

Despite the massive scale of reductions, Amazon's leadership has been adamant that this isn't about the bottom line. CEO Andy Jassy has emphasized the need to streamline operations, describing the goal as operating "like the world's largest startup."

"You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers," Jassy said during Amazon's third-quarter earnings call. 

However, during that same call, Jassy clarified that the decision is "not really financially driven and it's not even really AI-driven." This statement stands in contrast to earlier messaging from the company about artificial intelligence reshaping workforce needs.

Beth Galetti, Amazon's Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology, offered a different framing in an October memo to employees. "Some may ask why we're reducing roles when the company is performing well," she wrote. "What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we've seen since the Internet."

The Broader Tech Industry Reckoning

Amazon isn't alone in this workforce contraction. Meta has laid off between 1,000 and 1,500 workers; Intel announced 24,000 job cuts—about 15% of its workforce; Microsoft cut 15,000 positions; and Ericsson cut 1,600 jobs.

Major employers including FedEx, Verizon, McDonald's, Nike, and Wells Fargo have all signaled layoffs for 2026. In late December alone, approximately 199,000 Americans filed unemployment claims in a single week.

Finance expert Michael Ryan of MichaelRyanMoney.com offered a stark assessment to Newsweek: "Amazon isn't laying people off because it's struggling. It's doing it because it can. This is what a publicly traded efficiency machine does once growth slows, and shareholders want profit margins. You replace people with systems, flatten management, and cut costs fast. AI gets the headline, but this is really about labor becoming a variable expense instead of a long-term investment."

What Affected Employees Can Expect

Affected staff will receive at least 90 days of pay and benefits during the notice period. Those impacted by the previous wave were given time to find internal roles or new employment—a benefit likely to be extended to this new group as well.

Employees will receive their layoff notifications through email or direct manager calls. Meanwhile, online forums show growing anxiety, with workers reporting stricter performance reviews and rising morale concerns.

For Amazon's 1.5 million-strong global workforce, most of whom work in fulfillment centers, operations continue as usual. But for the corporate staff in Seattle and satellite offices worldwide, the uncertainty has only deepened as AI continues to reshape priorities across the sector.