Amazon Lays Off Over 18,000 Employees in Largest Cuts in Company History
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced layoffs affecting more than 18,000 corporate employees, primarily in the Stores and People Experience & Technology (PXT) organizations, marking the largest workforce reduction in the company's history.
Why Did This Happen?
Pandemic-era hiring spree doubled headcount to over 1.5 million, creating organizational bloat
E-commerce growth normalized post-COVID, leaving excess capacity in fulfillment and retail divisions
Macroeconomic uncertainty and rising interest rates tightened consumer spending projections
AWS growth decelerated as enterprise customers optimized cloud spending
Pressure from investors to improve operating margins after two unprofitable quarters
Impact Analysis
The cuts primarily hit Seattle and Bellevue corporate offices, with roles eliminated in HR, retail operations, and devices (Alexa). Amazon subsequently shuttered several experimental projects including Amazon Care and Scout delivery robots. The layoffs triggered a broader reckoning in big tech about sustainable headcount growth.
Affected by this layoff?
Related Articles
Wix to Cut ~20% of Staff, Citing Shekel Surge and AI
Wix · May 2026
Webflow Restructures for the "Agentic Web"
Webflow · May 2026
Cisco Cuts ~4,000 Jobs to Reallocate Toward Silicon, Optics, and AI
Cisco Systems · May 2026
LinkedIn Cuts ~875 Jobs (5%) Despite Record Revenue
LinkedIn · May 2026
Meta to Cut 8,000 Jobs -- About 10% of Workforce
Meta · Apr 2026
T-Mobile Files WARN Cuts Across Four States
T-Mobile · Apr 2026