Amazon Layoffs May 2026: 30,000 Jobs Cut in Six Months as Exit Emails Signal Round 3

# Amazon Layoffs May 2026: 30,000 Jobs Cut in Six Months as Exit Emails Signal Round 3

> **Quick answer:** Amazon has cut roughly 30,000 jobs over the past six months across AWS, Alexa, Prime Video, compliance, and seller services divisions. In May 2026, Reddit posts from employees in Manila, Singapore, Costa Rica, and Bengaluru claim they received exit emails offering 90 days of paid non-working notice — suggesting a third round of cuts is now underway. Amazon is simultaneously spending $200 billion on AI infrastructure, making this the clearest case yet of capital explicitly replacing payroll.

Amazon layoffs in May 2026 have crossed a threshold that demands attention: according to exit emails reportedly shared on Reddit, a third wave of job cuts is now hitting workers across multiple international hubs — and the cumulative six-month total is approaching 30,000 roles eliminated. This isn't turbulence. It's a controlled demolition of one workforce model to fund another.

## The Three-Phase Breakdown: How Amazon Cut 30,000 Jobs in Six Months

The scale of Amazon's 2026 workforce reduction only becomes clear when you lay the phases side by side.

**Phase 1 — AWS, Alexa, and Prime Video (Late 2025 into early 2026):** The first wave targeted approximately 16,000 corporate roles, concentrated in AWS cloud operations, the Alexa voice assistant division, and Prime Video content teams. These cuts reflected Amazon's decision to consolidate what it called duplicative functions — roles that made sense at one growth stage but not at the current one.