Amazon is reportedly planning to cut a second round of jobs next week, under a wider plan to slash roughly 30,000 roles from the company.
The retail giant axed 14,000 jobs from its global corporate workforce in October.
The total number of redundancies is expected to be around the same as last year, with many roles reportedly being cut due to the rise of AI software. The cuts could potentially start as soon as Tuesday (27 January), Reuters reported.
Roles at the retailer’s Amazon Web Services, retail, Prime Video and human resources, known as people experience and technology, units are forecast to be impacted, although the scope could be broader.
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Amazon attributed its October job cuts to the rise of AI software, noting in an internal letter that this generation of AI was “the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet” and was allowing businesses to “innovate much faster than ever before”, said the report.
Despite this, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy went on to tell analysts during its Q3 earnings call that the cuts were “not really financially driven and it’s not even really AI-driven,” instead saying “it’s culture”.
The 30,000 roles represent almost 10% of Amazon’s corporate workforce. The redundancies would mark the biggest layoff in the business’s history.
Retail Gazette has contacted Amazon for comment.
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