New York City — Amazon has laid off approximately 660 corporate employees across nine offices in Manhattan, as part of its ongoing cost-cutting and restructuring drive.
What happened
The company’s filings with the New York State Department of Labor indicate the job cuts occurred at nine locations, with particularly heavy reductions at its offices near Hudson Yards and Fifth Avenue. These layoffs are part of a broader global plan to eliminate up to 14,000 corporate roles and potentially as many as 30,000, or roughly 9 % of Amazon’s global office workforce.
In a blog post, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of People Experience & Technology, Beth Galetti, explained the restructuring as a move to reduce bureaucracy, remove organisational layers and shift resources into “our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs.”
Specific office impact & internal focus
According to state records, more than half of the cuts came from two Manhattan offices: one at 450 West 33rd Street had 233 job cuts, and another at 424 Fifth Avenue (the former Lord & Taylor building) registered 182 layoffs. Other offices affected included 410 Tenth Avenue (91 cuts), 7 West 34th Street (58), 330 West 34th Street (41), 237 Park Avenue (38), 315 Park Avenue South (9), 215 Park Avenue South (7) and 6 West 35th Street (1). Amazon emphasised that warehouse and delivery staff were not impacted by this specific round of corporate layoffs.
Analysts expressed surprise at the scale of the cuts in a city like New York, especially given the high demand for tech talent and the company’s stated expansion into areas such as artificial intelligence. “I believe the vast majority of these cuts are tech layoffs for Amazon, and NYC was not spared,” said Dan Ives, a senior analyst at Wedbush Securities.
Why it matters
These cuts are significant for several reasons. First, they highlight that Amazon’s restructuring is deep and wide — not limited to its Seattle or fulfilment operations, but also hitting large corporate hubs in New York City.
Second, the focus on corporate/tech roles suggests the company is reassessing its organisational structure in light of evolving business priorities — including automation and AI. Amazon’s internal note referenced that this generation of AI “is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet.”
Third, from a New York City perspective, the layoffs raise questions about the sustainability of large-tech job hubs in expensive markets, and whether incentives provided to attract such offices will still hold up if workforce reductions continue.
What comes next & implications for workers
For employees in the impacted roles, Amazon has indicated that while this is a reduction, some of those affected will be given up to 90 days to seek internal transfers. The company says it will provide support including severance pay, outplacement services and continuation of health-insurance benefits for those unable or unwilling to transition internally.
From a hiring perspective, despite the layoffs, Amazon says it will continue to hire in key strategic areas — especially where growth opportunities remain — while streamlining elsewhere. This reflects a broader trend in tech where companies are pivoting resources toward high-growth segments while reducing excess capacity.
What it means for the broader tech & corporate sector
The Amazon NYC layoffs are part of the broader wave impacting the tech industry. According to trackers, the number of job cuts across tech companies in 2025 is on the rise.
For other corporations with major offices in large metros like New York, the message is clear: higher-cost locations may still see workforce reductions if headcount doesn’t align with strategic priorities.
For readers: what to keep in mind
- If you are a professional working in corporate tech/office roles in high-cost cities, this move illustrates that even large employers can restructure aggressively.
- Keep skills aligned with the “growth bets” of your employer — such as AI, cloud, automation — as these areas appear less at risk.
- For firms offering substantial subsidies or tax incentives to locate large offices, this may trigger community and government scrutiny when job cuts occur shortly after.
