Amazon has carried out another round of job reductions, with fewer than 1,000 employees globally affected, according to people familiar with the matter. Employees in India and the United Kingdom are among those understood to have been impacted.
The latest workforce reduction is part of a continuing effort by the company to reorganize teams, simplify its corporate structure and control costs. Amazon has undertaken multiple rounds of layoffs and targeted workforce reductions in recent years as it adjusts its operations following a period of rapid expansion during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest cuts were communicated to some employees on Tuesday. Posts on Amazon’s internal communication channels indicated that workers in areas including customer service, marketplace support and engineering were affected in India and the UK.
Amazon confirmed that it had eliminated a small number of roles but did not provide an exact figure.
A company spokesperson said the changes were primarily focused on its Stores business, which oversees the company’s main online retail operations. The company said it regularly reviews its organisational structure to ensure that teams are aligned with its priorities and able to respond quickly to customer needs.
The latest reductions are considerably smaller than some of Amazon’s previous workforce cuts. However, they add to a series of restructuring exercises that have affected different parts of the company since 2023.
Amazon’s continuing workforce restructuring
Amazon’s workforce expanded rapidly during the pandemic as consumers shifted heavily towards online shopping. The company hired large numbers of employees to meet the surge in demand and expand its logistics, technology and retail operations.
As consumer behaviour changed after the pandemic, Amazon began reassessing the size and structure of its workforce.
One of the most significant rounds came in 2023, when Amazon announced plans to eliminate more than 18,000 corporate and technology jobs globally. The reductions affected employees across several divisions and represented the company’s largest workforce reduction at the time.
The company subsequently announced additional job cuts across individual business units. A much larger restructuring programme that began in 2025 and extended into 2026 resulted in tens of thousands of further positions being eliminated or placed under review.
Amazon has also carried out smaller, targeted reductions in individual divisions rather than announcing all workforce changes as part of a single company-wide programme.
This has meant that layoffs have occurred intermittently across different parts of the business, depending on changes in strategy and organisational requirements.
India among countries affected
India remains an important location for Amazon’s global operations, with the company employing staff across technology, customer support, marketplace operations, corporate functions and other areas.
The latest restructuring has affected some employees in India, although there is currently no indication that the company has disclosed a country-specific figure for the number of positions being eliminated. The impact also appears to vary between teams.
The absence of a detailed country-wise breakdown means that the precise impact on Amazon’s Indian workforce remains unclear.
Why Amazon is reducing its workforce
The latest cuts are part of a broader restructuring strategy under CEO Andy Jassy, who has repeatedly focused on controlling costs, reducing organisational layers and making the company more efficient.
Amazon’s expansion during the pandemic resulted in a significant increase in its workforce and operating expenses. As demand patterns normalized, the company began looking for areas where spending could be reduced and decision-making streamlined.
The company has also invested heavily in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, automation and other technologies. As these areas become more important to Amazon’s strategy, the composition of its workforce is changing.
That does not necessarily mean that all of the company’s job reductions are directly linked to artificial intelligence. Amazon has described the changes primarily in terms of organisational restructuring, efficiency and shifting business priorities.
Pandemic hiring remains part of the explanation
Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos has previously pointed to the company’s rapid expansion during the pandemic when discussing subsequent workforce reductions.
During the pandemic, millions of consumers relied more heavily on online shopping, creating an unprecedented increase in demand for Amazon’s retail and delivery services.
The company responded by expanding its workforce and infrastructure at a rapid pace.
As demand subsequently stabilized, Amazon began reviewing whether all of the positions and organisational structures created during that period were still necessary.
The resulting workforce reductions have taken place over several years and have affected different parts of the company at different times.
Latest cuts focused largely on Stores
The most recent reductions are understood to be concentrated primarily within Amazon’s Stores organization.
The Stores business is responsible for Amazon’s core e-commerce operations and includes teams supporting the company’s online shopping platform.
Amazon said the restructuring was intended to create a structure that would allow the business to move faster and focus resources on its key priorities.
The company described the eliminated positions as a small number of roles relative to its overall global workforce.
Amazon employs more than a million people worldwide when its fulfilment and logistics workforce is included, although the vast majority of those employees work in operational roles rather than corporate positions.
The latest cuts therefore represent a relatively small proportion of the company’s total workforce.
A different pattern from earlier mass layoffs
The latest announcement also illustrates how Amazon’s workforce strategy has evolved.
Earlier rounds involved large numbers of employees across multiple divisions and were announced as broad corporate restructuring programmes. More recent reductions have increasingly taken place within individual businesses or functions.
This approach allows the company to adjust staffing levels as specific priorities change without necessarily undertaking another company-wide workforce reduction.
Amazon has also continued to invest in areas it considers strategically important, particularly cloud computing, artificial intelligence, advertising, logistics and other technology-driven businesses.
Consequently, workforce reductions in one division do not necessarily indicate a company-wide reduction in hiring or investment.
Employees offered transition support
Amazon has said that employees whose positions are eliminated will receive support during the transition.
The company has not publicly provided a detailed breakdown of severance arrangements associated with the latest round, and the terms may vary depending on the employee’s location and employment conditions.
The latest restructuring is expected to affect fewer than 1,000 employees globally, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The exact number could not be independently established from the information publicly available, and Amazon has not released a precise figure.
For now, the company continues to reassess its organisational structure as it balances cost control with investment in new technologies and businesses.
The latest reductions therefore form part of a longer period of workforce restructuring at Amazon rather than representing a return to the much larger mass layoffs announced during the earlier stages of its post-pandemic adjustment.
