By Ayomide Otitoju
Amazon plans to lay off tens of thousands of office workers as part of a cost-cutting drive coinciding with the company’s ramped-up investments in artificial intelligence (AI), according to multiple US media reports.
The reductions, expected to begin Tuesday, could affect roughly 30,000 positions—about 10 percent of Amazon’s approximately 350,000 office roles—while leaving the distribution and warehouse workforce, which accounts for the majority of the company’s more than 1.5 million employees, largely untouched.
Seattle-based Amazon did not respond to AFP inquiries regarding the reported cuts, first cited by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and other outlets. Shares ended the trading day slightly higher as news of the potential layoffs circulated.
CEO Andy Jassy has emphasized the transformative potential of AI across Amazon’s operations, including customer engagement and office efficiency. “Our conviction that AI will change every customer experience is starting to play out,” he said during the company’s last quarterly earnings call.
Amazon is set to report its next earnings on Thursday, with investors and analysts watching closely to assess the returns on its significant AI investments. “AWS will be under pressure to both show revenue acceleration and operating margin improvement in light of its massive AI investments,” said Emarketer principal analyst Sky Canaves, referring to Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud computing unit.
The company also faces scrutiny following a recent AWS outage that disrupted a wide range of online services, from streaming platforms and messaging apps to banking websites. The outage affected Prime Video, Disney+, Fortnite, Airbnb, Snapchat, Duolingo, Signal, WhatsApp, and Amazon’s own e-commerce site, as well as some banking services, including Lloyd’s.
Amazon identified the cause as an issue with the Domain Name System (DNS), which directs internet traffic. The incident highlighted the central role AWS plays in global online infrastructure, with Amazon leading the cloud computing market ahead of Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
Businesses, governments, and consumers worldwide depend on these services for everyday online activities, underscoring the impact of both Amazon’s operational decisions and its AI-driven strategy.
