Amazon to shed 14,000 jobs “to be organized more leanly” despite acknowledging it “is performing well”

Amazon is shedding around 14,000 jobs as part of “organizational changes” to “get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs.”

In a statement posted to Amazon’s website, senior vice-president of people experience and technology Beth Galetti said that while this will “include reducing in some areas and hiring in others,” it will result in an “overall reduction in our corporate workforce of approximately 14,000 roles.”

While not explicitly detailed in this statement, Reuters reports these cuts will impact a number of corporate divisions, including human resources, operations, devices and services, and Amazon Web Services, the latter of which recently took a third of the internet offline after an outage, including Epic Games’ Fortnite and PSN.

Bloomberg reports its game business will also be affected, with “significant role reductions” across its Irvine and San Diego offices as it “reduce[s] the amount of work it does on big-budget titles, particularly surrounding MMOs.”

Most employees at risk of redundancy have 90 days to secure a new internal job, with those unable to be moved internally offered “severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits, and more.”

Galetti also noted that “this generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.”

“Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well. Across our businesses, we’re delivering great customer experiences every day, innovating at a rapid rate, and producing strong business results,” Galetti said.

“What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before (in existing market segments and altogether new ones).

“We’re convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”

Reuters reports Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is targeting “an excess of bureaucracy.”