New York, Jan 25, 2026, 09:34 EST — Market closed.
- AMZN closed Friday up 2.1% at $239.16 but slipped roughly 0.1% in after-hours trading
- Reuters says Amazon is gearing up for thousands more corporate layoffs, possibly kicking off as soon as Tuesday
- Amazon will release its fourth-quarter results and hold a conference call on Feb. 5
Amazon.com (AMZN.O) shares jumped 2.1% on Friday, despite Reuters reporting the company plans another wave of corporate layoffs next week. In after-hours trading, the stock dipped roughly 0.1%.
The report arrives just before Amazon’s upcoming earnings release, as investors watch for signs of stricter cost management amid ongoing heavy spending on data centers and AI-related software. Amazon announced it will publish its fourth-quarter and full-year results on Feb. 5, followed by a conference call that same afternoon.
Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that job cuts might start as early as Tuesday (Jan. 27), impacting teams across Amazon Web Services, retail, Prime Video, and human resources. Amazon declined to comment, Reuters reported, while the sources warned the details could still shift.
The company has linked previous white-collar job cuts to AI tools, but Chief Executive Andy Jassy took a different stance during the latest earnings call. “It’s culture,” he told analysts, explaining the firm had accumulated excessive bureaucracy and too many management layers.
Amazon slashed roughly 14,000 corporate positions in October, hitting about half of its target to reduce some 30,000 office jobs, the report noted. These cuts affect a small portion of Amazon’s total workforce of around 1.58 million, the vast majority of whom work in warehouses and delivery. However, the impact is far greater within its corporate ranks.
Reuters reported that some workers impacted in October remained on payroll for 90 days—a stretch ending Monday. The timing is crucial: confirmation of another round early this week could reignite interest in the stock as markets reopen.
Heading into the weekend, the market’s mood was uneven. The Nasdaq gained 0.3% on Friday, and the S&P 500 inched up 0.1%. Meanwhile, the Dow slipped 0.6% as investors grappled with tariff uncertainties and a slew of macro and corporate reports.
The Federal Reserve meeting on Jan. 27-28 is the next key macro event, with the policy decision expected Wednesday. Rate changes often hit growth stocks like Amazon hard, since shifts in borrowing costs force investors to sharply adjust valuations of future earnings.
For Amazon, the key question for traders is whether these job cuts signal straightforward cost-cutting or hint at deeper issues. If the layoffs are larger than expected or target growth initiatives, doubts about execution could surface—even if Amazon maintains its long-term spending goals.
U.S. markets reopen Monday, with traders watching closely for any confirmation on the timing and scale of potential cuts from the company. The more significant date, though, is Feb. 5, when Amazon releases its earnings and management fields questions during the conference call.
