Amazon Cuts Retail Jobs During Online Sales Event While Boosting AI Budget

Amazon confirmed job cuts within its retail division this week. These reductions happened while the company ran its Prime Big Deal Days sale on Oct 6 and 7.

Staff in several roles were let go from the unit that runs the main online shop. Teams included customer service, selling partner support, and engineering workers.

The workers affected hold positions across multiple countries including the US, India, and the UK. In India, the reductions coincided with the start of a local festival sale.

Reports differ on the total number of people who lost their jobs this time. Some sources count hundreds while others say fewer than 1,000 office workers were affected.

Employees first learned of the changes by talking in an internal message channel with nearly 37,000 members. News spread through this group before official details were released.

A spokesperson said the company adjusted parts of its Stores business to focus on main goals. This explanation followed reports that some staff faced termination notices during the week.

Jeff Bezos told a news program that the firm hired too many people during the pandemic surge. He stated that further cuts were needed to correct the head count growth from that period.

CEO Andy Jassy noted plans for heavy investment in technology infrastructure recently. The company aims to spend $220bn on data centres and chips mostly for AI workloads.

This latest round follows larger layoffs totaling around 30,000 jobs over the past year. Those earlier reductions included thousands of roles cut in January and October 2025.

Other firms like HubSpot have also reduced staff as they pivot toward artificial intelligence systems. Amazon contacted some former employees about returning for new roles in cloud and AI fields.