Overview
- On the earnings call, Jassy said the reductions were not financially driven or due to AI "right now," describing them as a bid to restore startup-style agility.
- Amazon reported $180.2 billion in quarterly revenue, up 13% year over year, with AWS rising about 20% to $33 billion, and shares jumped roughly 13% after hours.
- The cuts target about 14,000 corporate and tech roles—roughly 4% of Amazon’s ~350,000 corporate workforce—across multiple teams, with California WARN notices listing 1,403 roles.
- Most affected employees get 90 days to seek internal roles, with severance, health benefits and outplacement services if they do not land another position at the company.
- The culture rationale contrasts with earlier messaging that cast AI as transformative; Jassy warned in June that AI would shrink corporate headcount over time, and outside reporting cites internal automation goals that could reduce future hiring.