Amazon is set to cut around 14,000 jobs from its corporate workforce as it looks to streamline its business so it can respond to changes such as artificial intelligence (AI) more swiftly.
The move is aimed at “reducing bureaucracy, removing layers and shifting resources” in the business, read a message to staff published on Amazon’s blog.
Reducing headcount will help the ecommerce giant, which has recently been wooing beauty brands to its sales platform, focus on its “biggest bets”, as well as customer’s “current and future needs”, said Beth Galetti, SVP of People Experience and Technology at Amazon.
Galetti said the cuts are a continuation of efforts to strengthen the business, outlined by Amazon CEO Andy Jassey last year.
“Last year, Andy posted a note about strengthening our culture and teams – explaining how we want to operate like the world’s largest start-up, the importance of having the right structure to drive that level of speed and ownership, and the need to be set up to invent, collaborate, be connected and deliver the absolute best for customers,” said Galetti.
Hiring will continue in some areas, while reductions will take place in others, said Galetti.
However, neither of these areas were specified.
This will result in the overall loss of around 14,000 roles, or 4% of Amazon’s global corporate workforce which stands at around 350,000.
In total, Amazon employed 1.5 million people at the end of 2024, according to its annual accounts.
Amazon cut 18,000 jobs in 2023 and 27,000 in 2022.
Despite the company performing well, Galetti told staff that “the world is changing quickly”.
She added: “This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we have seen since the internet, and it is enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before (in existing market segments and altogether new ones).
“We are convicted that we need to be organised more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”
Amazon is not the only business cutting back its workforce this year.
A number of beauty businesses including Estée Lauder Companies (ELC), Unilever, Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Coty.
Businesses face a perfect storm of economic headwinds, including pressure from US tariffs and a consumer spending slowdown, while technological progress including AI and automation is changing the landscape.