Amazon's January Bloodbath Begins: Up to 2,500 Workers Face Axe Starting 26 January as Tech Giant Pours £74.5 Billion into AI

Thousands of Amazon employees are facing their final weeks at the company, as regulatory filings confirm that the tech giant's sweeping layoffs will commence on 26 January, with between 1,001 and 2,500 workers in Washington state set to lose their jobs in the first wave.

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filings indicate that separations are expected to continue through May in Washington, California, Virginia, and New Jersey. Under federal law, companies with at least 100 employees must provide 60 days' advance notice before conducting mass layoffs.

The cuts form part of a broader restructuring, which has already confirmed the elimination of 14,000 roles, with industry insiders telling The HR Digest that the overall 'ripple effect' could reach 30,000 positions by May 2026.

What This Means for Workers Everywhere

For employees across the technology sector and beyond, Amazon's aggressive pivot offers an uncomfortable warning. The company is not struggling financially. Instead, it is committing $100 billion (£74.5 billion) over the next decade to artificial intelligence infrastructure and AWS data centres, prioritising automation over traditional headcount, according to The HR Digest.

'Amazon isn't laying people off because it's struggling. It's doing it because it can,' said Michael Ryan, a finance expert and founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com, speaking to Newsweek. 'This is what a publicly traded efficiency machine does once growth slows and shareholders demand higher profit margins. You replace people with systems, flatten management, and cut costs fast.'

Beth Galetti, Amazon's senior vice-president of people experience and technology, framed the reductions differently: 'This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we've seen since the internet,' she wrote. 'We're convinced that we need to be organised more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers.'

Locked Out Within Minutes

Behind the corporate messaging lies a more visceral reality. Employees who received layoff notifications reported being locked out of work laptops within minutes, losing access to years of performance reviews and accolades stored on company systems, according to accounts compiled by GeekWire.

'Thought I was a top performer but guess I'm expendable,' wrote one software development engineer with seven years at the company on Reddit. Another worker, facing an expiring work visa, expressed panic: 'Never been laid off before feels overwhelming on VISA! If I am not able to get H1b sponsoring job in next 90 days will I have to uproot everything here and go back?'

The abruptness drew criticism from former employees. Kristi Coulter, author of Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career, wrote on LinkedIn: 'Amazon made people relocate, switch their kids' schools, and bookend their days with traffic for RTO only to lay them off via a 3 a.m. text?'

Middle Managers in the Crosshairs

Internal data reported by GeekWire reveals that more than 78% of eliminated roles were held by mid-level managers, with designations from L5 to L7, particularly in Amazon's retail division. Over 80% of the US-based layoffs affected the retail arm, spanning e-commerce, human resources, and logistics.

Amazon's moves reflect a wider industry shift. Major employers including FedEx, Verizon, McDonald's, Nike, and Wells Fargo have all signalled layoffs for 2026. In late December alone, approximately 199,000 Americans filed unemployment claims in a single week.

Ryan warned that formal layoffs tell only part of the story. 'Return-to-office mandates, tighter performance metrics, middle-manager cuts... those are all headcount tools,' he told Newsweek. 'Sometimes the pink slip doesn't come in an email. It comes as a calendar invite and a new set of rules.'

For workers watching from the sidelines, Amazon's restructuring offers a stark preview of what may lie ahead for the broader labour market as artificial intelligence reshapes corporate priorities.