Amazon Cuts 16,000 Corporate, 5,000 Retail Roles, Closes Go and Fresh Stores
Amazon said it will cut 16,000 corporate and 5,000 retail staff, closing almost all Amazon Go and Fresh stores, bringing total layoffs above 30,000 since October. CEO Andy Jassy cited efficiency gains from AI automation as justification, potentially improving operating margins but raising execution risks in integrating headcount reductions.
1. Q4 2025 Earnings Preview
Analysts expect Amazon to report fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of $211.3 billion and earnings per share of $1.97, representing year-over-year growth of 13% in revenue and 6% in EPS. Consensus forecasts suggest that a beat or miss relative to these figures could significantly influence the stock’s near-term performance, given its current valuation at 34 times this year’s expected EPS multiple and 20 times cash-flow multiple.
2. Full-Year 2025 Performance and Valuation
If consensus estimates are met, Amazon would close out fiscal 2025 with 12% revenue growth and 29% EPS growth. Those results would cap a year in which AWS sustained higher capital expenditures—adding over 1 gigawatt of data-center capacity in Q4 alone—while corporate head count was reduced by approximately 10% through successive rounds of layoffs, bolstering free-cash-flow conversion despite ongoing investment in logistics and entertainment.
3. AWS Operating Margin and 2026 Outlook
Investors will be watching AWS’s operating margin closely, as tough year-ago comparables from December 2024 and March 2025 could compress profitability this quarter. For calendar 2026, analysts have penciled in EPS of around $8.00—just 12% growth—and revenue growth of approximately 11%. Several research teams have held back on raising 2026 forecasts further, citing uncertainty over the pace of cost leverage in cloud infrastructure and the cadence of new AI-driven product rollouts.