Amazon is cutting 14,000 corporate jobs. The company stated that the decision will enable it to operate faster, leaner, and with a greater focus on artificial intelligence. The cuts affect about 4 percent of its corporate workforce of roughly 360,000 employees, making this its second-largest layoff since it cut 22,000 roles in 2022. Amazon now employs about 1.5 million people globally.
The timing stands out. The company is performing well, not struggling. In the second quarter of 2025, revenue increased 13 percent year-over-year to $ 167.7 billion. Amazon also spent $ 55.6 billion in the first half of this year on technology infrastructure, mostly to strengthen Amazon Web Services and build capacity for AI products.
In a memo to employees, Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology, wrote that the job reductions are “The reductions we’re sharing today are a continuation of this work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs.”
Efficiency as Power
Amazon has always been known for scale. Its empire expanded through constant hiring across logistics, cloud, and retail. That expansion model is ending. CEO Andy Jassy made that clear in June when he told staff that “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.”
This round of layoffs follows a deliberate formula: remove management layers, automate repetitive functions, and concentrate decision-making inside systems that never slow down. Amazon now uses machine learning to manage workflows, track performance, and optimize operations. The investment in AI is not theoretical. AWS, which accounted for 18 percent of total net sales last quarter, has become both the profit engine and the operating model for how Amazon runs itself.
In six months, the company poured $ 55.6 billion into cloud and compute infrastructure, more than the annual capital expenditure of most Fortune 100 companies. It is an investment for control. Amazon is building a corporation where algorithms, not managers, direct the flow of work.
The move shows how corporate power is being redefined. Efficiency is no longer just a metric; but it is a philosophy. The more Amazon automates, the more valuable it becomes, even as the number of people behind that value shrinks.
The Human Cost of Machine Logic
For employees, the transition feels impersonal. Most affected workers are being offered 90 days to look for new roles internally, along with severance pay and health benefits. But the reality is that many of those roles no longer exist in Amazon’s new system. Teams that once handled internal analytics or coordination now face automation that performs their functions faster and cheaper.
Inside the company, discussion threads contemplate a sense of resignation. Workers describe how “efficiency” has become the default answer to every question. The culture that once prized human initiative is now defined by automation targets. Leadership principles, ownership, bias for action, and customer obsession are being translated into code that monitors productivity rather than inspiring it.
The irony is that Amazon is achieving record profits while shedding people.
As Jassy told in Amazon’s latest earnings call, “we’re still in the very early days of generative AI inside Amazon, but it’s already improving how we build, operate, and serve customers.”
