Amazon layoffs: Company cuts 16,000 more jobs in three months; HR chief Beth Galletti says: Teams did not complete…

Amazon is laying off another 16,000 corporate jobs–exactly three months to the day after announcing 14,000 cuts on October 28. The combined total of 30,000 positions marks the largest workforce reduction in Amazon's history, surpassing the 27,000 jobs eliminated during the post-pandemic belt-tightening in 2023.

Affected employees in the US will get 90 days to find internal roles before severance kicks in.The layoffs are part of CEO Andy Jassy's broader mission to run the $2 trillion company like "the world's largest startup." In a memo to staff, HR chief Beth Galetti said teams that didn't finish restructuring in October have now completed the process. She promised this won't become a recurring pattern, but added that adjustments will continue "in a world that's changing faster than ever."The reason why Amazon is laying off thousands despite record profitsBehind the job cuts lies a massive bet on artificial intelligence. Amazon is pouring roughly $125 billion into data centres and infrastructure as it races to catch up with Microsoft and Google in the AI wars. Jassy has been blunt about what this means for headcount—he told employees last year that AI-driven efficiency gains would shrink corporate staff over time.

The irony isn't lost on workers. Amazon reported $21 billion in profit last quarter alone. But Jassy argues the issue isn't money—it's speed. Too many managers, too many approval layers, too many "pre-meetings for the pre-meetings," as he put it in a September memo. Galetti echoed this in her note, saying every team will "continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate."Amazon employee morale at new low after RTO mandate, layoffsThe cuts cap off a rough stretch for Amazon's corporate workforce. Last year, Jassy forced employees back to the office five days a week — a move that drew widespread pushback internally. Then came October's layoffs, followed by months of uncertainty about who would be next.Some employees got an early hint of what was coming. On Tuesday, calendar invites labelled "Project Dawn" appeared on workers' schedules—accidentally sent before the official announcement.

It was an awkward preview of Wednesday's news.Amazon Go, Amazon Fresh stores shut down as layoffs continueThe layoffs landed alongside other tough news. Amazon is shutting down all its cashierless Go stores and Fresh grocery locations after failing to crack the grocery code. The company's palm-scanning payment system, Amazon One, is also being discontinued.Warehouse workers aren't safe either. Amazon has plans to automate more than half a million fulfilment centre jobs with robots, according to a New York Times report from last year. The company's total workforce stands at 1.57 million—but that number is headed in one direction.Amazon reports Q4 earnings on February 5. Wall Street expects revenues north of $211 billion. The October layoffs alone cost the company $1.8 billion in severance.