Amazon Prepares Fresh Layoffs as 16,000 Jobs at Risk, India Teams Bracing for Impact

Amazon is reportedly gearing up for another significant round of layoffs, with nearly 16,000 employees expected to be affected starting January 27. The move marks the next phase of the company’s ongoing restructuring and could bring total corporate job reductions close to 30,000 by mid-2026. Teams in India are expected to feel the brunt of these cuts, particularly in major business units such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Prime Video.

The anticipated layoffs follow an earlier workforce reduction in late 2025, when Amazon eliminated about 14,000 white-collar positions. That step was described as the first phase of a broader organisational overhaul. Now, multiple reports and discussions on professional forums like Blind and Reddit suggest that the second phase is imminent, with Indian offices seen as especially vulnerable.

Cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai — home to large concentrations of Amazon’s corporate staff — are likely to see substantial impacts. Employees working in retail operations and the People Experience and Technology (PXT) division, which manages internal HR functions, may also be affected.

By the end of 2025, a Reuters report said Amazon was planning to cut around 30,000 corporate jobs as part of a wider restructuring effort. Following those reports, the company confirmed its plans to cut around 14,000 roles. The company is now expected to roll out the second phase of job cuts, potentially adding another 16,000 roles to that tally and pushing total job losses close to 30,000.

If the estimates hold true, this reduction would exceed even the sweeping 27,000 layoffs Amazon carried out during 2022 and 2023. Although Amazon employs roughly 1.57 million people worldwide, the current cuts focus largely on its corporate workforce of about 350,000 employees rather than frontline warehouse or delivery staff.

Internal conversations indicate that the layoff process could begin early in the week of January 27. Posts from employees on platforms such as Reddit, Blind, and LinkedIn suggest that managers have already begun signaling possible changes. Some workers on performance improvement plans (PIPs) may receive early notifications.

Reports also indicate that advance warnings may have already been issued. Between 1,000 and 2,000 employees are said to have received WARN notices, which are required under US law before large-scale layoffs. However, Amazon has not officially confirmed the timing or scale of the upcoming cuts.

Amazon maintains that these decisions are not purely about finances. CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly said the layoffs are “not really financially driven” and “not even really AI-driven,” but are instead aimed at fixing company culture and tackling what he has described as excessive bureaucracy. Jassy has argued that Amazon’s rapid expansion over the years has created multiple layers of management that slow decision-making and innovation.

Still, artificial intelligence is quietly shaping the company’s future strategy. Automation across HR, software development, and customer support is increasing, and roles tied to administrative or managerial functions appear to be under scrutiny. As Amazon streamlines operations, many support positions are being reconsidered in favor of leaner, technology-driven workflows.

For thousands of employees, especially in India’s tech hubs, the coming weeks could bring uncertainty as the company reshapes its global workforce.