Amazon CEO Andy Jassy finally reveals the reason behind laying off 14,000 employees

Andy Jassy, Amazon

Amazon has let go of 14,000 employees this week, but CEO Andy Jassy says the decision wasn’t about cutting costs or following the AI trend. It was about fixing the company’s culture.

Speaking during Amazon’s quarterly earnings call, Jassy said the layoffs announced earlier this week were not financially driven. He explained that as Amazon grew rapidly over the years, the company added too many layers of management. This made decision-making slower and reduced accountability across teams. He said the cuts were meant to make Amazon leaner and more focused, especially at a time when technology is evolving faster than ever.

“Sometimes, without realizing it, you can weaken the ownership of the people doing the actual work,” Jassy said. “And it can lead to slowing you down.”

The comments came after Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, Beth Galetti, wrote in a blog post that AI was reshaping industries and forcing companies to rethink how they operate. While she pointed to AI as a key reason for change, Jassy made it clear that this round of cuts was about rebuilding discipline and simplifying the company’s structure.

This is Amazon’s biggest round of layoffs since 2022, when it cut 27,000 jobs. The company said this recent move came with about $1.8 billion in severance costs. Most of the affected positions were in corporate roles, including retail management teams in the United States.

Amazon’s move is part of a larger trend across Big Tech. Companies like Google and Microsoft have also been reducing layers of management to move faster and cut bureaucracy. For Amazon, Jassy says the goal is to return to its roots — a company that moves quickly, makes decisions confidently, and gives more responsibility to the people actually doing the work.