NEW DELHI : E-commerce giant Amazon is set to downsize its global supervisory workforce by 13%, axing 14,000 leadership roles by early 2025 as part of an extensive strategy to enhance efficiency and reduce expenditures. The initiative, projected to generate annual savings of $2.1 billion to $3.6 billion, will cut its management personnel from 105,770 to around 91,936 employees.
This restructuring follows recent job reductions in Amazon’s corporate communications and environmental sustainability teams, highlighting a broader effort to simplify operations under CEO Andy Jassy. Jassy has prioritized optimizing workflows by increasing the proportion of frontline workers to supervisors by at least 15% by the first quarter of 2025. This move aims to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks and expedite decision-making.
A report from Morgan Stanley predicts that approximately 13,834 supervisory roles will be impacted, aligning closely with Amazon’s official estimates. As part of the overhaul, the company has introduced fresh cost-control measures, including a specialized “efficiency hotline” for employees to flag operational redundancies. Department heads have been directed to expand their direct reporting teams, limit executive recruitment, and re-evaluate salary structures.
Additionally, Amazon is shutting down low-performing ventures such as its “Try Before You Buy” fashion program and a rapid in-store delivery service. These strategic shifts signal a renewed emphasis on profitability following a period of aggressive expansion—particularly during the pandemic, when Amazon’s workforce surged from 798,000 in 2019 to 1.6 million by the end of 2021. Since then, the company has eliminated over 27,000 positions across 2022 and 2023, adjusting its staffing model to align with evolving market dynamics.
Although speculation about Amazon’s restructuring surfaced earlier this year, the latest updates underscore the scale and urgency of its transformation strategy.