What you need to know
- Amazon announced a second massive wave of layoffs, stating it’s letting go of 16,000 roles.
- This comes after the company reduced its workforce by 14,000 last October, though Amazon’s Beth Galetti says this will not become a regular occurrence.
- Amazon has had a history of huge layoffs, such as its 10,000 roles chopped during the 2022 holidays and its largest layoffs in history in 2023 of 18,000 roles.
Another massive wave of layoffs has hit Amazon, as the company announced earlier today (Jan 28).
It was likely a difficult morning for many Amazon employees, as the company’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, Beth Galetti, discussed layoffs. Galetti shared the information through a blog post, stating Amazon has laid off 16,000 employees. This comes on the heels of its October layoffs, when the company let go of 14,000 people. Galetti states that the 16,000 people being laid off this month will impact roles across Amazon.
Anyone in the U.S. who’s been impacted by this is said to have been given 90 days to “look for a new role internally.” However, if some would rather not search for a new role within the company, Galetti says Amazon will provide “severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits (as applicable), and more.”
While this is the second massive way of layoffs by Amazon in recent times, Galetti says this “will not” become a regular occurrence. Instead, Galetti states Amazon will “evaluate” systems in relation to customer needs and “make adjustments as appropriate.”
UPS starred in headlines today, too, as BBC reports the company is looking to cut 30,000 jobs, as it moves away from Amazon. UPS claims deliveries for Amazon are “extraordinarily dilutive” to its overall profits. Instead, it’s been reported that it could look to other, more profitable customers, such as healthcare companies.
It’s become a tiring trend
Amazon has a lengthy history of harsh layoffs over the past few years. We have the 14,000 roles lost from October 2025, but we can walk things back to its largest cut in history: 18,000 roles in early 2023. The company stated then that the majority of those impacted were involved in its Amazon Stores and People, Experience, and Technology organizations. Two months later that same year, Amazon let go of 9,000 people, as its shedding continued.
Let’s also not forget that Amazon let go of roughly 10,000 people right around the holidays in 2022. Taking matters in a different direction, AP News highlights a previous statement by Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy, who said the company will look to generative AI to “reduce its corporate workforce” in the future.
Android Central’s Take
Bearing witness to layoffs in any capacity always leaves me with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Take a look at today’s climate, and you’ll quickly know that people need work. People need their money for their livelihood, their family, their loved ones, etc. We should take Amazon’s Beth Galetti’s words and remember them. Statements such as these massive layoffs not being a regular occurrence are huge—especially in the tech space. Will we be in the same position we are right now come March? Come October, November?
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