Amazon confirms 16,000 job cuts after internal email error
Amazon has confirmed it will cut 16,000 jobs globally, just hours after staff were mistakenly alerted to the redundancies in an internal email that was not meant to be sent.
The latest round of layoffs follows the 14,000 corporate roles Amazon said it would axe in October, taking total white-collar cuts to around 30,000 in less than six months.
The tech giant employs roughly 1.5 million people worldwide, including around 350,000 in corporate roles.
In a message to staff on Wednesday, Amazon’s chief people officer Beth Galetti said the cuts were part of “additional organisational changes” aimed at reducing layers of management.
Most of the roles affected are expected to be in the US, though some UK positions may also be impacted.
Galetti sought to reassure employees that the move did not signal a rolling programme of redundancies.
“Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan”, she wrote, adding that Amazon would continue hiring in “strategic areas” critical to its future.
US-based staff affected by the cuts will be given 90 days to apply for other roles internally, with arrangements varying in other countries.
‘Project Dawn’ slip up
The announcement came after workers at Amazon Web Services (AWS) received a calendar invitation on Tuesday for a meeting that was later cancelled, which included a draft email outlining the job cuts.
The email, seen by multiple outlets, suggested staff in the US, Canada and Costa Rica had already been told they were losing their jobs and referred to the layoffs under the codename ‘Project Dawn’.
The message was signed by Colleen Aubrey, a senior vice-president of applied AI solutions at AWS.
It described the cuts as part of a long-running effort to “strengthen the company”. Amazon later confirmed the email had been shared in error.
The redundancies are the latest step in chief executive Andy Jassy’s push to unwind Amazon’s pandemic-era hiring spree and rein in costs across the business.
Jassy has also warned staff that advances in AI could put some white-collar roles at risk in the coming years, while tightening workplace rules like mandating five days a week in the office.
The move comes as pressure builds across the tech sectors.
US delivery firm UPS said this week it plans to cut up to 30,000 jobs this year as it pulls back from low-margin deliveries for Amazon, its largest customer and an increasingly direct rival.
In the UK, Amazon has been reshaping its retail footprint after announcing the closure of its Amazon Fresh shops.
Despite the corporate cuts, the company says it still plans to create up to 2,000 new jobs at new warehouses in Hull and Northampton.