Amazon has launched its most sweeping corporate restructuring to date, targeting up to 30,000 white-collar positions across nearly every division as it accelerates investments in artificial intelligence and automation.
Layoff notifications began rolling out via email on October 28, 2025, marking the company's biggest single-round job cuts and surpassing the 27,000 positions eliminated between late 2022 and early 2023. This move affects approximately 10% of Amazon's roughly 350,000 corporate employees, sparing its 1.2 million fulfillment center workers.
RTO Mandate and Cost Pressures Fuel the Overhaul
The restructuring stems from aggressive post-pandemic cost controls initiated by CEO Andy Jassy, who has prioritized eliminating bureaucracy and layers of management since taking the helm in 2021. A stringent return-to-office policy mandating five days per week in headquarters failed to produce enough voluntary attrition, prompting deeper interventions. Remote workers not complying have been reclassified as voluntary quits, forgoing severance to minimize expenses. Amazon's corporate headcount tripled from 2017 to 2022 amid e-commerce surges, but slowing growth and inflation have demanded a leaner operation.
AI Efficiency Gains Drive White-Collar Displacement
At the core of the cuts lies Amazon's conviction that generative AI will handle tasks previously requiring human oversight, enabling fewer employees to deliver more output. Jassy foreshadowed this shift in a June 2025 memo, noting AI's potential to shrink headcount while boosting productivity across HR, logistics, and cloud operations. The company plans to ramp capital expenditures beyond $100 billion in 2025, primarily for AI data centers in AWS, underscoring a bet on technology over traditional staffing. Initial reductions total 14,000 roles, with further waves expected into 2026.
Divisions Hit Hardest in the Restructuring
Human Resources, branded People Experience and Technology, faces the steepest reductions, including up to 15% of its staff amid AI-powered recruiting and onboarding tools. Amazon Web Services, Devices and Services, Operations, Payments, Video Games, Grocery, Sustainability, Communications, and Advertising units report widespread impacts. Managers received layoff communication training, signaling a methodical rollout to maintain morale among remaining teams.
Broader Tech Layoff Wave Reflects AI Reckoning
Amazon's action amplifies a year of turbulence, with Layoffs.fyi tracking 98,000 tech job losses across 216 firms through October 2025. Intel leads with 22,000-25,000 cuts, followed by Microsoft at 15,000 and UPS at 48,000. Salesforce eliminated 4,000 support roles explicitly for AI agents, while Meta trimmed 600 in its AI division. These moves highlight a sector-wide pivot where AI promises efficiency but accelerates white-collar displacement.
Market Optimism Amid Employee Uncertainty
Investors greeted the news positively, with Amazon shares rising 1.2% to $226.97 ahead of Q3 earnings on October 31. The restructuring positions the company for margin expansion, redirecting savings to high-growth AI initiatives. Affected employees receive priority for new openings in strategic areas like machine learning and infrastructure, though rehire rates remain low historically. Critics decry the human cost, questioning AI's readiness to replace nuanced roles and warning of innovation risks from morale hits.
Dawn of the AI Workforce Era
This layoff blitz cements 2025 as the inflection point for AI's labor market disruption. Amazon's blueprint—slashing overhead to fund transformative tech—will influence peers racing to automate. While promising unprecedented productivity, it raises urgent questions about reskilling, economic inequality, and whether gains will circulate beyond boardrooms. As Jassy's vision unfolds, the e-commerce titan emerges leaner, but the human toll underscores the high stakes of betting the future on algorithms.