Amazon plans to lay off 18,000+ employees, more than its initial target of 10,000 in November 2022, with the “majority” coming from retail and recruiting

Cuts focused on the company's corporate staff exceed earlier projection — Amazon AMZN -0.79%decrease …

Wall Street Journal 2023-01-05

Context & Ripple Effects

Amazon had signaled roughly 10,000 corporate and tech cuts in November; this report raises that planned reduction substantially, with retail and recruiting bearing most of the added impact. The subsequent start of the 18,000-job reduction confirms the plan moved from target to execution.

Later coverage shows the 2022–23 cuts became a reference point for further corporate reductions, including Amazon's 2025 disclosure of another 14,000 corporate job cuts. That makes the initial expansion important as an early reset of the company's corporate functions, rather than a narrowly bounded recruiting action.

First-order effects

Amazon's retail and recruiting organizations face a larger immediate reduction in corporate capacity than contemplated under the earlier 10,000-person target.
Employees in the affected corporate groups face job losses as Amazon shifts the announced cut total above 18,000.

Second-order effects

A smaller recruiting organization limits Amazon's capacity to support hiring across its businesses, tying future staffing growth more closely to the remaining HR operation.
Retail leaders must absorb work formerly handled by eliminated corporate roles, increasing pressure to consolidate functions and prioritize projects.

Third-order effects

Amazon's later rounds of corporate cuts suggest the 2022–23 reduction was an early stage in a longer effort to repeatedly resize central functions, particularly HR and consumer-business teams.
If that pattern persists, corporate employment at Amazon becomes more variable than its broader workforce, with recruiting and retail support functions serving as recurring adjustment points.

The trend: Large technology employers are treating corporate support functions as recurring targets for workforce resets rather than one-time reductions.

Discussion

@briansozzi Brian Sozzi on x
“However, because one of our teammates leaked this information externally, we decided it was better to share this news earlier so you can hear the details directly from me.” Amazon CEO on new 18,000 job cuts. https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ...
@jasonrantz @jasonrantz on x
This is pretty significant — and is happening as the city of Seattle continues its push to hit Amazon with taxes to pay for far-left programs that don't improve lives. https://www.wsj.com/...
@spencersoper @spencersoper on x
So that Amazon layoff # everyone been wondering about is 18,000, about 5% of its corporate workforce and about 1% of its global workforce which is mostly hourly warehouse employees whose numbers get culled every year after Christmas. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@modestproposal1 @modestproposal1 on x
So Amazon is laying off 5% of corporate employees. 2K in devices, and the rest mostly in the Stores and HR. The absolute numbers sound large but relative to eg CRM it's half the size. Guessing it's $4-5B in savings? https://twitter.com/...
@tomgara Tom Gara on x
Really sucks for Amazon employees to have to wait another two weeks to find out if they're getting laid off https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ...
@lisaabramowicz1 Lisa Abramowicz on x
Amazon's planned layoffs will affect more than 17,000 employees, a higher number than the company initially planned: report. Most of the cuts will focus on corporate positions. https://www.wsj.com/...
@jeffreyatucker Jeffrey A Tucker on x
Slow motion depression. Twenty years from now, however, it will all seem like it came on suddenly. https://www.wsj.com/...
@moreperfectus @moreperfectus on x
Amazon has described itself as “the Bernie Sanders of workplaces,” and recently added the goal of being “Earth's best employer” to its list of corporate values. More details on the layoffs here: https://www.wsj.com/...
@jasonrantz @jasonrantz on x
Amazon confirmed this. It's a big deal. https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@taliaringer Talia Ringer on x
Really not a fan of recruiting more employees than you can guarantee you can support, and then laying them off. Seems flatly unethical still; labor laws in the US really need to sharpen up https://twitter.com/...
@natashafatah Natasha Fatah on x
Amazon's planned layoffs are expected to be the largest number of cuts revealed so far at a major tech company 17,000 expected to lose their jobs https://www.wsj.com/...
@andrewnebus Andrew Nebus on x
Oof. More than double Salesforce. How do you overhire that much? https://twitter.com/...
@jamesvgrimaldi @jamesvgrimaldi on x
Amazon plans to lay off more than 17,000 workers, more than first planned — expected to be the largest number of cuts revealed so far at a major tech company https://www.wsj.com/...
@htsfhickey Fred Hickey on x
Huge job cuts coming just after the 4th qtr closed portends bad results from AMZN when it reports numbers in a few weeks. January into Feb. likely to be a tough period for tech stock investors https://www.wsj.com/...
@thekenyeung Ken on x
Amazon's planned layoffs are expected to be the largest number of cuts revealed so far at a major tech company https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ

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