Amazon confirms 16,000 job cuts after mistaken internal email

Amazon has confirmed it will cut 16,000 jobs worldwide, just hours after employees received an internal email about the layoffs that was apparently sent by mistake.

The email, seen by the BBC, was sent late on Tuesday and referred to staff in the United States, Canada and Costa Rica being laid off as part of efforts to strengthen the company. The message was quickly withdrawn, suggesting it had been shared prematurely.

Early on Wednesday, Amazon formally announced the job reductions, saying the move was part of a plan to remove bureaucracy and streamline operations. Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, said the company was not planning frequent large-scale layoffs, following the 14,000 corporate job cuts announced in October.

She said some teams had completed their restructuring plans last year, while others finalised changes only recently. Amazon employs about 1.5 million people globally, including around 350,000 in corporate roles, but has not specified which countries or departments will be affected by the latest cuts.

On Tuesday, a draft email written by Colleen Aubrey, a senior vice president at Amazon Web Services, appeared in a calendar invitation sent by an executive assistant to multiple employees. The invitation, titled “Send Project Dawn email,” referenced Amazon’s internal code name for the layoffs. While the message confirmed job cuts were underway, staff had not yet been officially notified.

The email described the move as part of a long-term effort to reduce management layers, increase accountability and improve speed for customers. It acknowledged the difficulty of the decision and said it was made to position Amazon and AWS for future success.

According to a former employee, staff had been expecting further layoffs for weeks, with internal expectations that total job cuts could reach around 30,000. Some workers had already left during an earlier round of redundancies in October.

Affected employees were invited to apply for other open roles within the company, though opportunities were limited. Those unable to secure new positions received severance pay based on their length of service.

Since Jeff Bezos stepped down as chief executive four years ago, his successor Andy Jassy has overseen multiple rounds of cost-cutting and cultural changes. Amazon now requires employees to work in the office five days a week and has tightened controls on expenses, including monitoring corporate mobile phone use.

In a recent internal message, Jassy told staff the company was in a period of rapid change, calling it a time to rethink how Amazon operates. Earlier this week, Amazon also announced plans to close its remaining Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go grocery stores while expanding its Whole Foods Market business.