Amazon Announced Another Round Of Massive Layoffs

As part of an effort to become more efficient with artificial intelligence, Amazon is cutting another 16,000 jobs. This latest round of job cuts, which were announced on January 28, 2026, include employees who had just finished "organizational changes" that followed a previous mass layoff of 14,000 employees, in October 2025.

The 30,000 jobs that Amazon has eliminated in the past three months is equivalent to about 9% of its staff. It's also worth noting that these layoffs began roughly one month after Amazon made a $2.5 billion settlement over Amazon Prime membership fees. However, what's really driving job cuts is Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's goal of getting more done with artificial intelligence — instead of people.

"As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs," Jassy wrote in an Amazon News post in June 2025. "It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company." 

Amazon SVP Beth Galetti stated in a message to employees, that all U.S.-based corporate employees being laid off would have the chance to look for roles elsewhere in the company. Meanwhile, those who opt to leave will be given "transition support" that includes severance pay and health insurance.

However, not all of Amazon's layoffs are focused on corporate employees. In fact, many retail related jobs are also being laid off as Amazon announced its plans to shut down all 72 locations of its brick-and-motor grocery concepts: Walmart+ competitor Amazon Fresh, and its cashier-less convenience store chain Amazon Go. These layoffs include 983 in Pennsylvania, 401 in Washington state, 871 in New Jersey, 742 in Maryland, 691 in Virginia, and 3,855 in California.

Amazon stated, via Amazon News, that the company was closing its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores in order to focus on online grocery delivery while also adding another 100 Amazon-owned Whole Foods stores in growth areas – one of America's most overpriced grocery chains.

However, the company's focus on AI might still end up leading to more job creation long term, as IBM discovered when it replaced employees with AI. As Galetti told employees, "While we're making these changes, we'll also continue hiring and investing in strategic areas and functions that are critical to our future."