In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, Amazon requested a two-year extension to its July 2026 deadline for deploying roughly 1,600 Project Kuiper internet satellites, now rebranded as Amazon Leo. The company cited a near-term shortage of launch vehicles, manufacturing disruptions and limited spaceport capacity as reasons it cannot meet the original schedule. Amazon has earmarked at least $10 billion to build its low-Earth orbit broadband network, and to date has launched more than 150 satellites. The company expects to deploy about 700 satellites by July 30, 2026, which would make Leo the second-largest constellation in orbit. To support this, Amazon has booked over 100 launches, including 10 rides with SpaceX and a dozen with Blue Origin, and its next mission on February 12 will carry 32 satellites on an Arianespace rocket.

Analysts rate Amazon’s fiscal fourth-quarter 2025 results as a hold, cautioning that recent inventory buildup has outpaced sales growth, raising bullwhip effect concerns and potential margin pressure. In Q3, Amazon reported a record net margin of 11.7%. For Q4, consensus calls for revenue growth of approximately 13% to $211.3 billion, driven by a projected 22% expansion in Amazon Web Services and digital advertising. Capital expenditures are expected to rise 24% year-over-year to nearly $34.5 billion as Amazon ramps up data-center spending to support an anticipated $50 billion investment in OpenAI and to meet surging demand for AI compute.

In its latest cost-cutting initiative, Amazon announced the elimination of 16,000 corporate roles, bringing total cuts since October to around 30,000 positions, or 10% of its corporate workforce. Analysts estimate these reductions could generate up to $8 billion in annual savings. The layoffs include 1,400 jobs in Seattle and 700 in Bellevue, exacerbating a regional tech job loss that reached nearly 13,000 positions across four counties in 2025. Amazon attributed the moves to an effort to flatten the organization, increase ownership and remove bureaucracy as it reallocates capital toward automation and AI initiatives.