An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the development, stating: “We’ve made the difficult business decision to eliminate some roles across particular teams in AWS,” adding: “These decisions are necessary as we continue to invest, hire, and optimise resources to deliver innovation for our customers.”
According to accounts from multiple staff members, affected employees were informed via email on Thursday morning that their roles had been terminated and that access to their computers was being deactivated.
The layoffs are said to impact multiple teams within AWS. One of the groups affected is known as “specialists”, a team that works closely with customers to develop new product ideas and support the sales of existing AWS services.
This development is just over a month after Amazon reduced headcount in its books business, including at its Goodreads review platform and Kindle operations. Prior to that, reductions were made in the company’s devices and services division, its Wondery podcast unit, and among staff in retail stores and corporate communications.
These job cuts form part of a broader strategy led by CEO Andy Jassy to tackle what he has called unnecessary bureaucracy within Amazon. The restructuring includes efforts to reduce layers of management. Jassy told his employees last month that artificial intelligence (AI) will gradually reduce the need for certain corporate roles as more AI tools and agents are integrated across its operations.
Through this year’s first quarter, Amazon added about 4,000 jobs compared to last year’s fourth quarter, according to a disclosure in May.
Meanwhile, AWS continues to show strong financial performance. In the first quarter, the division recorded a 17% year-on-year increase in revenue, reaching $29.3 billion. Operating income also rose 23% to $11.5 billion.
