Amazon extends job cuts amid record margins

Amazon is extending its corporate restructuring with fresh job cuts in October and additional reductions scheduled in Washington state from December, even as profits and overall headcount rise. In October 2026, the company eliminated about 1,250 positions across its retail, devices and services operations. About 95 employees in Washington are scheduled for separations beginning Dec. 7 and continuing through Jan. 25, 2027, at sites in Bellevue, Redmond, Seattle, Pasco and Sumner, and including remote positions.

Most of the roughly 95 affected Washington workers hold white‑collar roles such as software engineers, product managers, program managers, risk managers and directors, based across 17 offices and warehouses and in remote positions. Employees who secure other jobs inside Amazon before their separation dates will not ultimately be laid off.

The latest actions build on two specific rounds of layoffs in October. On Oct. 7, Amazon eliminated hundreds of positions, primarily in its Stores division, which runs the core e‑commerce site. Fewer than 1,000 white‑collar employees were affected across teams including customer service and selling partner services, with staff in the United States, India and the United Kingdom among those impacted.

On Oct. 28, the company removed up to 250 roles in its devices and services division, focusing largely on software development positions that support products such as Kindle e‑readers and Alexa‑enabled devices. The cuts followed several product launches, including new Kindle devices and an Alexa‑powered alarm clock and photo frame. Amazon said these steps were intended to operate more efficiently and align staffing with its product plans.

Earlier WARN notices filed in August listed 269 Amazon roles in California and Washington slated for October layoffs, and about 95 positions in Washington were listed for separations across multiple cities.

The fall 2026 job cuts come after a broader wave of corporate reductions over the past year. Amazon previously announced plans to eliminate approximately 16,000 corporate roles in January 2026, following about 14,000 cuts in October 2025, for a total of roughly 30,000 corporate job reductions. In Washington state alone, an earlier notice identified 2,198 affected jobs, mainly in Seattle and Bellevue.

At the time of the January announcement, senior leadership framed the restructuring as a move to reduce bureaucracy, remove management layers and increase employee ownership. While executives said broad workforce reductions were not intended to become a recurring pattern, they indicated that individual teams would continue to reassess staffing levels over time.

The continuing job cuts are occurring alongside stronger financial performance. In its third‑quarter 2026 earnings release, Amazon reported a 12% increase in sales to $201.9 billion and a 61% rise in operating income to $28.1 billion. The company’s operating margin reached 13.9%, which its finance chief described as its highest level on record.

Chief executive Andy Jassy highlighted the momentum in Amazon’s retail operations, noting that the Stores business generated more than $90 billion in additional gross retail sales over the prior 12 months and has improved profitability. He characterized Amazon’s retail segment as a large‑scale business with double‑digit operating margins, inclusive of advertising, that is still growing rapidly.

Despite substantial corporate reductions, Amazon’s total workforce increased 4% year over year to approximately 1.638 million employees at the end of September 2026. The company expects about $220 billion in capital expenditures this year, largely focused on Amazon Web Services, and is planning to hire more than 300,000 seasonal, part‑time and full‑time workers across its U.S. operations for the holiday period, mainly in fulfillment, transportation and delivery roles.

Amazon says the restructuring is intended to streamline management and support priority areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics and new consumer technologies.