Amazon confirmed Wednesday that it had cut a small number of positions, mainly in its Stores unit that runs the main e‑commerce website. The layoffs come as the company launches its Prime Big Deal Days promotion, which began Tuesday and will run through Wednesday with varying discounts.
These cuts follow a larger round of 30,000 job reductions that started last year and continued into January. Employees who were affected reached out to Reuters and posted screenshots of internal Slack channels that revealed the news.
According to a source familiar with the matter, fewer than 1,000 white‑collar workers were let go. Business Insider had earlier reported the layoffs. A spokesperson emailed that Amazon had "adjusted parts of our Stores business because we believe this structure will better enable us to deliver on our priorities."
The internal Slack message indicated that several divisions within Stores were involved, including customer service and selling partner services, and possibly other units across Amazon. Employees in the US, India and the UK were among those receiving pink slips.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and executive chairman, said in a Fox News interview that continued job cuts were necessary because the company had over‑hired during the pandemic. He noted that the pandemic period had been "incredible, stressful" and that the team had worked extremely hard but the headcount had grown too large.
Amazon’s latest round of layoffs underscores the company’s ongoing restructuring as it balances growth with operational efficiency. Stakeholders will be watching closely to see how the changes affect Amazon’s retail strategy and customer experience during the high‑traffic Prime Big Deal Days.
