Wednesday’s cuts are the e-commerce giant’s second mass layoffs in three months.
Published January 28, 2026
Amazon will cut 16,000 jobs within three months in the e-commerce giant’s second wave of layoffs as it moves to restructure and rely on artificial intelligence.
Wednesday’s cuts follow the Seattle, Washington-based company’s 14,000 layoffs in October. The layoffs are expected to affect employees at Prime Video, Amazon Web Services and the company’s human resources department, according to Reuters, which first reported the layoffs.
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Amazon confirmed to Al Jazeera that all job cuts to the company will impact corporate-level employees.
Amazon said in a memo to employees shared with Al Jazeera that U.S. employees affected by the layoffs will have 90 days to find new roles within the company.
“For teammates who are unable or choose not to find a new job at Amazon, we will provide transition support including severance, outplacement services, and health benefits.” [as applicable]and more,” Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, said in a memo provided to Al Jazeera.
The announced job cuts come amid extensive restructuring efforts at the company. Amazon announced earlier this week that it would be closing its more than 70 brick-and-mortar grocery stores across the United States, Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh.
Some of these brick-and-mortar stores will be converted into Whole Foods Market stores. Amazon acquired the Austin, Texas-based grocery chain in 2017 and has grown 40% since then.
This reduction will come in parallel with increased investment in AI. In June, CEO Andy Jassy touted investments in generative AI and hinted at possible job cuts.
“We expect this to reduce the company’s total workforce as the widespread use of AI across the company improves efficiency,” Jassy said in a blog post at the time.
Mr. Jassy earned 43 times more than the company’s median employee, according to the AFL-CIO CEO PayWatch tracker.
Amazon’s stock price fell sharply in midday trading, down 0.7%. But overall, the stock is up 7% since the beginning of the year.
wave of cut
Amazon is the latest company in a wave of layoffs that hit the tech industry at the beginning of the year. Earlier this week, Pinterest announced it would cut 780 jobs as it reallocates resources as it increases investment in AI. Last week, Autodesk also announced about 1,000 AI-related layoffs.
More than 123,000 tech workers lost their jobs in 2025 as companies like Salesforce and Duolingo doubled their investments in AI, according to Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks layoffs in the tech industry.
But it’s not just the technology sector facing job cuts. On Tuesday, UPS also announced layoffs. The shipping giant announced it would cut 30,000 jobs and close 24 facilities to reduce deliveries with Amazon.
UPS stock was down more than 1.2% in midday trading.
