Amazon confirms 16,000 job cuts after accidental email leaks the news
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The news: Amazon on Wednesday confirmed plans to terminate around 16,000 corporate employees across its workforce, after a draft email discussing the layoffs was accidentally sent to Amazon workers late on Tuesday evening.
The numbers: Amazon said the reductions will impact approximately 16,000 roles across Amazon and that it will offer most US-based employees 90 days to look for a new role internally.
The news comes just months after Amazon cuts 14,000 roles in late October, with the combined 30,000 roles representing nearly 10% of the firm’s corporate workforce.
The context: Senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, Beth Galetti, confirmed the cuts in a blog post, saying the reductions were not “the beginning of a new rhythm” but that since October, “We've been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.”
On Tuesday evening, a draft email titled ‘Send project Dawn email’ – an apparent code name for Amazon’s job cuts – written by a senior vice president at Amazon Web Services (AWS), was included as part of a calendar invitation sent by an executive assistant to a number of Amazon workers.
The email refers to a swathe of employees in the US, Canada and Costa Rica having been laid off as part of an effort to "strengthen the company." The message, seen by the BBC, was quickly cancelled.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has made no secret of plans to reduce management layers and bureaucracy across the sprawling tech firm and last year warned that AI is set to reduce Amazon’s workforce further as it pursues automation.
