By Patrick Smolyn
Amazon is planning to eliminate as many as 30,000 corporate jobs over the next few months, nearly 10 percent of its corporate workforce.[1] It would amount to the largest corporate layoffs in the company’s history.[2] The total number of reductions have not been finalized, but are expected to impact human resources, cloud computing, advertising, and “a number of other business units.”[3]
The reductions come at a time when Amazon’s investments elsewhere have skyrocketed; capital expenses, which includes spending on data centers supporting artificial intelligence, is expected to increase nearly 50 percent since last year and top $120 billion.[4] Amazon reported $18 billion in profit last quarter.[5]
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has vowed to cut costs at the company for years.[6] And this past June, he told all Amazon employees that AI “should change the way our work is done” and warned that Amazon “will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today.”[7]
Amazon shares have risen less than 4 percent this year, even as the S&P 500 has risen nearly 17 percent year-to-date, and the company lags far behind the gains of other technology stocks like Nvidia and Alphabet.[8] But Amazon shares rose 1.2 percent on October 27 as news of the layoffs broke.[9]
A Goldman Sachs report released in August predicted while widespread adoption of AI could displace 6-7 percent of the total American workforce, there would also be many new roles created by the technology, meaning the overall impact would be “transitory.”[10] But the report also noted the recent decline in the share of technology-based employment in the economy, and highlighted the rising unemployment among younger technology workers.[11]
The cuts would be the largest in the technology sector this year, but they are not the first; Microsoft announced layoffs of about 15,000 people from May to July, and Meta laid off 600 people just last week.[12]
Amazon was seemingly careful to comply with the broad parameters of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.[13] The WARN Act requires 60 days of advance notice when employers with more than 100 full-time employees are conducting mass layoffs.[14] Amazon’s reductions qualify as a mass layoff under the statute, which requires 50 employees at a single site or at least 500 employees in total to kick in.[15] The WARN Act provides affected employees with a private cause of action in federal district court.[16]
In a message to all Amazon employees announcing the layoffs, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology Beth Galetti highlighted that “most” impacted employees will have 90 days before the reduction takes effect, emphasizing that the “timing will vary some based on local laws.”[17]
Galetti’s statement however could just be an attempt to ensure compliance with some of the more protective state WARN Acts; New York, New Jersey, and Maine have all enacted their own versions of the law that require 90 days of notice for mass layoffs, versus the federal requirement of 60 days.[18]
Amazon’s careful approach on WARN Act compliance appears different than other recent tech layoffs. Tesla has faced multiple suits from former employees about a lack of notice for their 2022 and 2024 mass layoffs.[19] Twitter is currently defending a class action suit for alleged WARN Act violations during their November 2022 layoffs.[20]
While it is too early to speculate on whether more technology companies will follow Amazon’s lead, and on the precise role of AI in the cuts, the layoffs are a jarring move from one of the county’s largest private employers. But Amazon’s notice policies in this layoff seem poised to avoid the WARN Act suits that other tech companies have faced.
Patrick Smolyn is a second-year law student from New Jersey. Prior to law school, he attended Cornell University and graduated with a degree in Government.
[1] Greg Bensinger, Exclusive: Amazon targets as many as 30,000 corporate job cuts, sources say, REUTERS (Oct. 27, 2025), https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/amazon-targets-many-30000-corporate-job-cuts-sources-say-2025-10-27/.
[2] Annie Palmer, Amazon to announce largest layoffs in company history, source says, CNBC (Oct. 27, 2025), https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/27/amazon-to-announce-sweeping-corporate-job-cuts-starting-tuesday.html.
[3] Sean McLain, Amazon to Lay Off Up to 30,000 Corporate Workers, WALL ST. J (Oct. 27, 2025), https://www.wsj.com/tech/amazon-to-layoff-tens-of-thousands-of-corporate-workers-056ebc4d.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Sebastian Herrera & Dean Seal, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Commits to Cost-Cutting, Innovation in Shareholder Letter, WALL ST. J (Apr. 13, 2023), https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-commits-to-cost-cutting-tech-investments-in-shareholder-letter-5db72c9d.
[7] Andy Jassy, Message from CEO Andy Jassy: Some thoughts on Generative AI, AMAZON (June 17, 2025), https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-on-generative-ai.
[8] Anita Hamilton, Amazon to Cut 30,000 Corporate Jobs, Reports Say. The Stock Was Rising, BARRON’S (Oct. 27, 2025), https://www.barrons.com/articles/why-stock-market-gain-ai-earnings-7c046c3f.
[9] Id.
[10] How Will AI Affect the Global Workforce?, GOLDMAN SACHS (Aug. 13, 2025), https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/how-will-ai-affect-the-global-workforce.
[11] Id.
[12] Karen Weise, Amazon Braces for Major Cuts to Its White-Collar Work Force, NEW YORK TIMES (Oct. 27, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/technology/amazon-layoffs.html.
[13] See 29 U.S.C. § 2102.
[14] See 29 U.S.C. § 2102, 2102.
[15] See 29 U.S.C. § 2101.
[16] 29 U.S.C. § 2104.
[17] Beth Galetti, Staying nimble and continuing to strengthen our organizations, AMAZON (Oct. 28, 2025), https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-workforce-reduction.
[18] See State WARN Acts, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE CHAMBERS, https://www.statechambers.org/state-warn-acts (last visited Oct. 30, 2025).
[19] Sam Skolnik, Tesla Settles Claims Over Failure to Warn Workers About Layoff, BLOOMBERG LAW (Apr. 22, 2025), https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/tesla-settles-claims-over-failure-to-warn-workers-about-layoff; Christina Tabacco, Tesla Workers’ WARN Act Labor Suit Heads to Arbitration, LAW STREET (Sep. 28, 2022), https://lawstreetmedia.com/news/tech/tesla-workers-warn-act-labor-suit-heads-to-arbitration/.
[20] See Cornet v. Twitter, 1:23-cv-00441 (D. Del., filed Nov. 3, 2022).