Amazon has confirmed it will cut 16,000 jobs globally, hours after an internal email outlining the layoffs was accidentally sent to staff before an official announcement.
The email, seen by the BBC, was circulated late Tuesday and referenced job losses affecting employees in the United States, Canada and Costa Rica as part of efforts to “strengthen the company.” It was quickly withdrawn, suggesting it had been shared prematurely.
Early Wednesday, the US technology giant formally announced the layoffs, describing them as part of a restructuring drive aimed at reducing bureaucracy and speeding up decision-making.
Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president for people experience and technology, said the company was not planning recurring mass layoffs, following the 14,000 corporate job cuts announced in October.
“While many teams completed their organisational changes in October, others only concluded that process now,” Galetti said.
Amazon employs about 1.5 million people worldwide, including roughly 350,000 corporate staff, but the company has not disclosed which teams or countries will be most affected by the latest cuts.
The layoffs became public after a draft message written by Colleen Aubrey, a senior vice president at Amazon Web Services (AWS), was mistakenly attached to a calendar invite titled “Send Project Dawn email”, a reported internal code name for the job cuts.
The email said the reductions were part of a long-running effort to streamline operations, cut management layers and “move faster for customers,” while acknowledging the human impact of the decision.
Although employees had anticipated further cuts for weeks, many were caught off guard by the premature disclosure. A former Amazon employee said internal expectations were that up to 30,000 roles would eventually be eliminated, with further redundancies planned through May.
Affected staff were encouraged to apply for limited internal openings, while those unable to transition received severance packages based on tenure.
Since taking over from founder Jeff Bezos, CEO Andy Jassy has overseen multiple rounds of layoffs while enforcing a stricter workplace culture, including a mandatory five-day in-office policy.
Amazon has also intensified cost controls, including tighter oversight of corporate expenses. In a recent internal message, Jassy described the current period as “a time to rethink everything we’ve ever done,” citing rapid global change.
The job cuts come as Amazon continues to reshape its business. Earlier this week, the company announced plans to shut its remaining Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores while expanding its Whole Foods Market operations.
