Amazon is cutting thousands of jobs across its corporate division, the business has confirmed.

The ecommerce giant is set to reduce its global corporate workforce by “approximately 14,000 roles,” it announced today (28 October).

Prior reporting indicated that Amazon had plans to axe as many as 30,000 roles.

In a note to workers, Amazon senior vice president Beth Galetti said the company was “shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs”.

She noted that the role reductions were needed since AI was “the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet” and was allowing businesses to “innovate much faster than ever before”.

“We’re convicted that we need to be organised more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business,” she said.

The note added: “We’re working hard to support everyone whose role is impacted, including offering most employees 90 days to look for a new role internally (the timing will vary some based on local laws), and our recruiting teams will prioritize internal candidates to help as many people as possible find new roles within Amazon.”

Retail Gazette has asked Amazon whether the job cuts will impact UK staff.

The news comes after Amazon CEO Andy Jassy warned that the rise in AI tools would likely result in job losses earlier this year. 

In July, it was reported that Amazon was set to have more robots than human workers in its warehouses for the first time, as the business ramped up its use of automation and AI.

In August, the business also reported that it had been heavily spending on AI, with Jassy noting that its AI investments had led it to be in a strong position long-term.

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