Amazon accidentally confirms new layoffs in early email to AWS staff

Amazon.com Inc. mistakenly confirmed a new round of job cuts after an internal email about the layoffs was sent early to employees at Amazon Web Services, Reuters reported.

The email, signed by Colleen Aubrey, senior vice president of applied AI solutions at AWS, was meant to go out on 28 January morning but was sent on 27 January instead, according to Reuters. It wrongly said that affected employees in the US, Canada and Costa Rica had already been informed.

Amazon is reportedly preparing to cut approximately 16,000 corporate roles this week.

Reuters also reported that an internal Slack message referred to the layoffs as “Project Dawn.” A meeting planned for 28 January was later cancelled.

“Changes like this are hard on everyone. These decisions are difficult and are made thoughtfully as we position our organisation and AWS for future success,” Aubrey said in a follow-up internal memo cited by Reuters.

The upcoming cuts are expected to hit several parts of Amazon’s business, including AWS, retail operations, Prime Video and human resources. Amazon hasn’t said how many jobs or teams will be affected.

Amazon has earlier said it could cut about 30,000 roles in total. The first major round came in October 2025, when the company announced 14,000 layoffs.

Separately, Amazon also laid off workers from its Fresh grocery and Amazon Go divisions this week, though the company didn’t share numbers.

The latest layoffs come as Amazon increases automation and expands its use of artificial intelligence, a shift that the company says is changing how it runs its business.