Amazon Announces Massive 2025 Layoffs: What the Job Cuts Mean for 10,000 Employees

Amazon is preparing its largest workforce reduction to date, with sources indicating that up to 30,000 corporate positions—nearly 10 % of the company’s white-collar headcount—could be eliminated starting Tuesday, 28 October 2025. The layoffs will reportedly span multiple high-profile units, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), the People Experience & Technology (PXT) human-resources organization, the Devices & Services division that builds Alexa hardware, and parts of the advertising business. Executives have told managers the cuts are designed to curb costs as Amazon ramps up multibillion-dollar investments in generative AI, robotics, and same-day logistics expansion. Employees affected by the reduction are expected to receive email notifications Tuesday morning, followed by 60-day paid transition periods and severance packages whose size will vary by tenure, level, and geography. Although most cuts target North America, sources say European offices will face restructuring reviews in the coming weeks. CEO Andy Jassy has spent the past two years pushing “meaningful productivity gains,” trimming marginal projects and freezing corporate hiring. Amazon’s headcount ballooned during the pandemic e-commerce surge, but softer consumer demand, higher borrowing costs, and rising energy prices have exposed profit pressure in 2025. Wall Street has so far cheered the discipline: Amazon shares are up nearly 40 % year-to-date, outpacing the S&P 500. Still, analysts warn that the scale of the cuts could slow product road maps inside AWS—even as the cloud unit races Microsoft and Google for AI-training workloads. The move places Amazon among a new wave of tech giants announcing five-figure job reductions for 2025, alongside Meta’s recently disclosed 12,000-person cut and Alphabet’s 8,000-role restructure. Labor-market economists say the trend underscores a shift from “growth at any cost” to “efficient growth,” especially as venture-funded startups recoil and enterprise IT budgets tighten. For employees, recruiters advise updating LinkedIn profiles immediately, downloading performance reviews from internal systems, and networking with alumni at AI-focused startups, where talent demand remains strong. Washington-state officials note that laid-off workers can combine severance with up to 26 weeks of unemployment insurance while reskilling through state-subsidized coding academies. With the holiday shopping season approaching, Amazon insists frontline warehouse and delivery roles are unaffected, signaling that the consumer experience should remain stable. However, corporate insiders describe “whiplash” after years of aggressive hiring, suggesting morale challenges that leadership will need to address as the company pivots to its next phase of leaner, AI-driven growth.