From Amazon to The Washington Post, Bezos’ cost-cutting drive gathers pace

A prematurely sent internal email at Amazon has reignited speculation over a sweeping new round of job cuts, while raising fresh concerns that the same cost-cutting logic is now extending to The Washington Post, also owned by Jeff Bezos.

The confusion was triggered late on Tuesday, January 27, when an internal follow-up email informed Amazon staff that employees affected by layoffs in the United States, Canada and Costa Rica had already been notified. The message, sent by Colleen Aubrey, senior vice president of applied AI solutions at Amazon Web Services, was intended for release the following morning, according to employees. A subsequent team-wide meeting invite was abruptly cancelled, further fuelling uncertainty.

Within minutes, internal Slack channels as well as Reddit and Blind filled with posts questioning whether the email had been sent in error or had prematurely revealed imminent layoffs. The message also referenced an internal project name, Project Dawn, which had not previously been disclosed.

The incident has renewed focus on Amazon’s broader restructuring plans. Media reports indicate the company is in the second phase of a multi-stage effort to eliminate around 30,000 corporate roles by mid-2026. Amazon cut roughly 14,000 jobs in October 2025, with the current round expected to affect another 14,000 to 16,000 employees. If completed, the reduction would exceed the company’s 2022–23 layoffs and mark the largest workforce cut in Amazon’s history.

Internal discussions suggest the latest cuts will be concentrated across AWS, Prime Video, retail operations and the People Experience and Technology human resources unit. Employees in India are bracing for a sharper impact this time, particularly in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, where corporate teams are seen as more exposed than in earlier rounds.

When the first phase of layoffs was announced in October, chief executive Andy Jassy said the decision was not driven by short-term financial pressure or artificial intelligence, but by cultural issues. He said years of rapid hiring had added too many layers of management, slowing decision-making. Analysts note that the resulting savings are likely to be redirected towards Amazon’s priorities, including generative AI and automation within AWS.

That same emphasis on cost discipline is now echoing in the newsroom of The Washington Post. Reports suggest more than 100 newsroom roles could be cut, with up to 300 positions at risk overall. Sports, metro and foreign desks are expected to be most affected, raising fears of a weakened global reporting footprint.

Foreign correspondents and bureau chiefs from regions including Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa and India have publicly appealed to Bezos, warning that scaling back international coverage would undermine the Post’s credibility at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty. Sixty journalists from the international desk have also signed an open letter arguing that on-the-ground reporting cannot be replicated from Washington and warning that readers and advertisers may shift to rivals expanding their global presence.

Bezos acquired The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million through Nash Holdings, separate from Amazon. However, concerns are growing inside the newsroom that the publication is being subjected to the same cost-cutting approach shaping Amazon’s restructuring.

As layoffs loom across both organisations, the pressure to operate leaner is intensifying. While Amazon frames its cuts as a way to strip out bureaucracy and restore speed, journalists argue that similar reductions in a global newsroom risk eroding the very journalism that underpins institutional authority.