Overview
- State WARN notices in New York, California, New Jersey and Washington show nearly 40% of the more than 4,700 reported cuts were engineering roles, with mid-level SDE II positions disproportionately affected.
- The filings capture only a portion of the approximately 14,000 corporate roles Amazon said it would eliminate in October, due to differing state reporting requirements.
- Internal communications detailed significant reductions at Amazon Games in Irvine and San Diego and a halt to much of its big-budget MMO development, including a planned Lord of the Rings title.
- Amazon scaled back visual search and shopping teams in Palo Alto tied to tools such as Amazon Lens and Lens Live, and more than 140 ad sales and marketing roles were cut in New York, about 20% of the positions eliminated there.
- Amazon says AI was not the primary driver of the cuts, though it is reallocating resources to AI initiatives, and further job reductions are expected in January according to prior CNBC reporting.