Amazon Layoffs Hit Around 1,000 Employees Across US, India, And UK Amid AI Spending Push

Amazon has confirmed a fresh round of layoffs, primarily affecting its Stores business, which manages its core e-commerce operations. The latest job cuts reportedly affect fewer than 1,000 corporate employees across the US, India, and the UK, as the company continues restructuring its workforce while increasing investments in artificial intelligence (AI).

The reductions follow Amazon's earlier elimination of approximately 30,000 positions between 2025 and January 2026, raising fresh concerns about job security, severance arrangements, and the company's evolving business priorities.

TL;DR

 

• Amazon has confirmed fresh layoffs, primarily targeting its Stores business, with fewer than 1,000 white-collar workers reportedly affected.
• Employees across the US, India, and the UK face cuts in teams including customer service, marketplace support, and retail engineering.
• The reductions come amid Amazon's reported $220 billion AI infrastructure spending plans for 2026.
• Affected employees are seeking clarity on severance, medical leave, and internal job opportunities.

Amazon Cuts More Jobs Across Its Stores Business

According to Reuters, Amazon confirmed that it had eliminated a small number of positions, primarily within its Stores division, which oversees the company's main e-commerce platform.

A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that fewer than 1,000 white-collar employees had been affected. However, Amazon did not disclose the exact number of eliminated positions or provide a detailed country-wise breakdown.

Source

"We've adjusted parts of our Stores business because we believe this structure will better enable us to deliver on our priorities," an Amazon spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The restructuring reportedly affects employees in the US, India, and the UK, with internal Slack discussions suggesting that customer service and selling partner services were among the affected business functions.

According to Mint, which cited reporting by Business Insider, the latest reductions also extend to marketplace support and retail engineering operations.

Interestingly, these job cuts coincided with Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days shopping event, which took place on October 6 and 7, one of the company's major annual promotional periods.

The timing highlights the contrast between Amazon's efforts to expand its retail business and its ongoing reductions in corporate staffing.

Amazon Employees Raise Concerns Over Severance And Medical Leaves

Beyond the number of affected positions, the latest round of layoffs has raised questions among employees about job security, severance eligibility, and opportunities to move into other roles.

According to Mint, employees turned to internal Slack channels to discuss whether all termination notifications had been issued and how the changes would affect their employment arrangements.

Some workers questioned whether employees on medical leave would be impacted, while others sought clarification about retaining access to workplace applications such as Slack and Microsoft Outlook during their notice periods.

Another concern involved severance eligibility for employees who might secure outside employment before completing their reported 90-day notification period.

Employees also reportedly discussed whether the reductions could extend to teams in Mexico and other European countries.

However, these discussions represent employee concerns rather than confirmation of additional layoffs in those locations.

Mint further reported that some workers were exploring opportunities to move into other positions within Amazon before their employment ended.

The company has reportedly contacted some former employees, including workers affected by previous layoffs, about available positions within Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its AI businesses.

However, Amazon has not publicly clarified how many affected employees could qualify for internal transfers, or whether the latest round will lead to additional reductions.

Amazon Layoffs Continue As Company Expands AI Investments

The latest layoffs come as Amazon prepares to increase spending on AI infrastructure, data centers, and computing technologies.

According to Mint, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is overseeing plans for approximately $220 billion in capital expenditure during 2026, with substantial investments directed toward AI-related infrastructure.

The spending push reflects Amazon's efforts to strengthen AWS, expand its AI computing capabilities, and support growing demand for cloud-based AI services.

 

However, the timing raises questions about how the company is allocating resources between existing business operations and emerging technological priorities.

While Amazon continues to eliminate positions in some business functions, it is also reportedly seeking talent for AWS and AI-related roles.

The developments illustrate how the company is reshaping its workforce alongside its investment priorities, although Amazon has not directly attributed the latest Stores layoffs to AI replacing employees or funding AI infrastructure.

The latest cuts also follow a much larger restructuring effort that eliminated approximately 30,000 jobs between 2025 and January 2026.

According to Reuters, Amazon subsequently made several smaller workforce reductions, with the October layoffs representing another round of organizational changes.

Jeff Bezos Links Earlier Amazon Job Cuts To Pandemic-Era Hiring

Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos has also addressed the company's workforce reductions.

In a recent interview, Bezos said the company had expanded its employee base significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when consumers increasingly relied on online shopping.

Source

"People were staying home and they were ordering, and it was an incredible, stressful period for us, by the way," Bezos said, according to Reuters.

"The whole team worked extremely hard and did so much, but we really grew our head count."

His remarks were made in response to questions about Amazon's previous round of approximately 30,000 job cuts, rather than as a specific explanation of the latest reductions.

The comments nevertheless provide context for Amazon's broader efforts to adjust staffing levels following the rapid expansion of its operations during the pandemic.

For now, the company has confirmed changes to its Stores business but has not disclosed a complete list of affected teams, exact country-level job losses, or plans for any additional layoffs.

As Amazon continues investing heavily in AI infrastructure while reducing positions across selected business units, the immediate concern for affected employees remains securing new roles and obtaining clarity about their employment benefits.