Amazon has announced another round of job cuts, this time affecting its Selling Partner Services division, after cutting nearly 30,000 jobs in the last six months. The division works closely with millions of third-party merchants on onboarding, logistics and account support. According to a report by Business Insider, a company spokesperson confirmed that the layoffs involve a “small number” of employees. The company’s move will lead to about 30,000 layoffs in October and January, as well as smaller cuts at its robotics division in March.

amazon layoffs: The company said this

“We regularly review our organizations to ensure we are best prepared to achieve our goals,” the spokesperson said. “Following a recent review, we have made the difficult decision to eliminate a relatively small number of roles in our Selling Partner Services team. We do not make decisions like this lightly, and we are committed to supporting affected employees with transitional health care, severance payments and outsourced job placement services.“The latest round of job cuts at Amazon underscores how the e-commerce major is working to reshape its vast retail organization under CEO Andy Jassy, ​​who has emphasized efficiency and cost discipline over the past two years. While the first layoffs were framed as a response to pandemic-era overexpansion, the continued cuts show that Amazon is still fine-tuning the workforce across many businesses.

AI investment and workforce concerns

On one hand, while jobs are being cut, on the other hand, Amazon is also aggressively expanding its AI investments. The company is investing heavily in AI in retail, logistics and advertising. Amazon executives have also asked teams to adopt AI tools to automate routine tasks and streamline operations. Some employees are worried this could lead to further role cuts, a concern Jassie himself acknowledged last year when he said AI could help “reduce” the company’s workforce over time.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy tells investors not to be afraid of AI spending

Recently, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that investors should not worry about Amazon’s heavy spending on AI, arguing that it will drive long-term growth. Speaking recently on “Mad Money,” Andy Jassy said the company’s big investment in AI infrastructure is necessary and that’s why investors will be rewarded over time. Jesse described AI as a major turning point in technology. “We believe AI is the biggest technology change in our lifetime,” he said. “It’s going to reshape every customer experience we know and completely new experiences we never even imagined.” Andy Jassy said the scale of Amazon’s investment reflects the size of the opportunity.Amazon said earlier this year that it planned to invest $200 billion in capital spending, primarily focused on AI infrastructure such as data centers. The announcement initially caused concern in the market, with shares falling following the company’s earnings report. However, the stock later recovered and has since hit new highs. Jassi said that when the opportunity is big then such expenditure is necessary. “When you have such a significant shift … you want to bet big,” he said.