Amazon to Cut Over 30,000 Corporate Jobs Starting Today, Largest Layoffs Since 2022

Amazon is reportedly preparing to eliminate up to 30,000 corporate positions starting Tuesday, October 28, marking the e-commerce giant's largest workforce reduction since 2022, according to a Reuters report citing sources familiar with the matter.

The planned cuts represent Amazon's most significant job reduction since late 2022, when the company eliminated approximately 27,000 positions. While the layoffs account for only a fraction of Amazon's 1.55 million global workforce, they represent nearly 10 percent of its 350,000 corporate employees.

The move is part of Amazon's broader cost-cutting strategy as it seeks to streamline operations and recalibrate after pandemic-era over-hiring, when surging online demand prompted aggressive expansion across multiple divisions. The cuts underscore a shift from rapid growth to sustained profitability as the company navigates cautious economic conditions and slower consumer spending trends.

Amazon's human resources division known internally as PXT or the People eXperience Technology team will be particularly hard-hit, though other areas of the core consumer business are also expected to be affected. Earlier this month, Fortune reported that Amazon was preparing to cut as much as 15 percent of its HR staff, with additional layoffs likely in other divisions.

Amazon has declined to comment publicly on the planned layoffs despite multiple media requests. According to Reuters, the company directed managers of affected teams to undergo communication training on Monday in preparation for staff notifications, which are expected to begin via email on Tuesday morning.

CEO Andy Jassy, who succeeded Jeff Bezos in 2021, has built a reputation as a cost-cutter and operational reformer. He previously oversaw the largest layoffs in Amazon's history from late 2022 into 2023, when the company eliminated at least 27,000 corporate jobs. Those cuts came as the pandemic receded and consumer demand patterns shifted, prompting similar workforce reductions across Big Tech companies.

Jassy has increasingly emphasized artificial intelligence as central to Amazon's future workforce strategy. In June, he issued a stark warning to employees, encouraging them to embrace the AI-powered era. "Those who embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well-positioned to have high impact and help us reinvent the company," he wrote in a company-wide email.

However, Jassy also made clear not everyone would have a place in this transformed organization: "We expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company."

The latest wave of cuts is being treated differently within Amazon, according to sources familiar with the developments who spoke to Fortune. Rather than routine trimming of underperforming staff, the reductions signal a broader restructuring effort as Amazon harnesses AI to automate tasks previously performed by human employees.

Amazon managers are routinely required to meet targets for "unregretted attrition" (URA), a measure indicating the percentage of staff the company can afford to lose through voluntary departures, managed exits, or layoffs. However, the current restructuring appears to go beyond these routine performance-based reductions.

The layoffs reflect a broader trend across the technology sector, where companies are increasingly looking to AI to reduce headcount requirements initially for repetitive tasks and eventually for more complex roles. This transformation is reshaping workforce planning across major tech employers as they balance innovation with profitability pressures.