Amazon is cutting jobs while its biggest fall sale is still running. The e-commerce giant confirmed on Wednesday that it has cut a “small number” of jobs, primarily in its Stores unit — the division that oversees Amazon’s main e-commerce website. Fewer than 1,000 white-collar workers were let go, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, making this the latest in a string of Amazon layoffs 2026 rounds, according to Reuters.
The timing raised eyebrows: the layoffs landed midway through Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days promotion, which started Tuesday and runs through Wednesday, offering varying discounts across the site. Internal Slack channels suggested several divisions within Stores were affected — including customer service and selling partner services — and that employees in the United States, India and the United Kingdom were among those receiving pink slips. Some affected employees reached out to Reuters and shared posts from internal Slack channels about the news.
What Amazon Said About the Amazon Layoffs 2026 Round
Amazon’s official statement was brief. “We’ve adjusted parts of our Stores business because we believe this structure will better enable us to deliver on our priorities,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Business Insider earlier reported the layoffs before Amazon confirmed them.
The cuts are the latest in a series of small reductions that have followed a much larger round of 30,000 job cuts that began last year and continued into January. That earlier round was tied in part to CEO Andy Jassy’s push to cut bureaucracy and to the company’s growing reliance on AI-driven efficiency — a pattern that has rippled across the tech industry since the pandemic hiring boom reversed.
Bezos: Overhiring During the Pandemic Made Cuts Necessary
Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos addressed the company’s job-cutting streak directly in a Fox News interview aired Wednesday, saying continued reductions have been necessary because Amazon overhired during the pandemic. “People were staying home and they were ordering, and it was an incredible, stressful period for us, by the way,” Bezos said when asked about the 30,000 jobs lost in the previous round. “The whole team worked extremely hard and did so much, but we really grew our head count.”
Bezos’ comments are the clearest public acknowledgment yet from the top of the company that the pandemic-era workforce expansion — when Amazon staffed up furiously to meet surging online demand — created a headcount the company no longer wants to carry. Bezos’ remarks land as his own net worth remains in the global spotlight, but the substance for workers is simpler: the trimming is not over.
Why the Timing Stings
Holding layoffs during Prime Big Deal Days is awkward optics for any retailer, but for Amazon it also highlights the central role the Stores unit still plays. The division runs the main e-commerce website — the engine that generates the traffic for events like Big Deal Days — and the cuts hit customer service and selling partner services, teams that deal directly with the merchants and shoppers the promotion is meant to celebrate.
That said, fewer than 1,000 roles is a rounding error against Amazon’s roughly 1.5-million-person workforce, and the company continues to hire in growth areas like AWS and AI infrastructure even as it trims corporate retail roles. The pattern, as seen across big-cap tech this year, is less about distress and more about rebalancing: fewer layers in the core retail business, more investment where the margins and growth live.
What to Watch Next
The unconfirmed question is whether more cuts follow. The internal Slack posts seen by Reuters suggested “possibly other units across Amazon” were involved beyond Stores, and the company has been cycling through small reductions all year since the 30,000-job round concluded. With holiday peak season approaching, large-scale retail cuts would be unusual — but the company’s steady corporate trimming shows no sign of stopping.
For now, the message of this Amazon layoffs 2026 round is continuity: the pandemic headcount is still being unwound, one small cut at a time, even on the company’s biggest shopping days.
FAQ
How many Amazon employees were laid off in October 2026?
Amazon let go fewer than 1,000 white-collar workers, primarily in its Stores unit, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Amazon confirmed the cuts as a “small number” of jobs.
Which Amazon divisions were affected by the layoffs?
The cuts centered on the Stores unit, which oversees Amazon’s main e-commerce website. Internal Slack channels pointed to customer service and selling partner services, with employees in the US, India and the UK affected.
Why is Amazon cutting jobs during Prime Big Deal Days?
Amazon did not link the cuts to the promotion. The company framed them as a structural adjustment to “better enable us to deliver on our priorities.” The cuts landed midway through Prime Big Deal Days (October 6–7), one of Amazon’s biggest fall shopping events.
What did Jeff Bezos say about Amazon’s job cuts?
In a Fox News interview aired October 7, executive chairman Jeff Bezos said continued cuts were necessary because Amazon overhired during the pandemic, when locked-down shoppers flooded the site and the company “really grew our head count.”
Sources: Reuters
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