Amazon’s massive October layoffs included 660 terminations in Manhattan, according to New York State government records.
The ax fell on nine office addresses affecting corporate employees only, Amazon confirmed.
Two sites bore the brunt of the local cuts. The e-commerce giant’s 450 W. 33rd St. offices near Hudson Yards were hit with 233 layoffs, while its 424 Fifth Ave. offices at the former Lord & Taylor flagship — which Amazon bought in 2020 for $1 billion — saw 182 terminations, according to Monday filings from the state Department of Labor.
“I believe the vast majority of these cuts are tech layoffs for Amazon and NYC was not spared,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told The Post. “The size of the Amazon cuts remains a head scratcher given the battle for talent and [the] AI revolution in motion.”
Amazon declined to share details of the cuts but said warehouse and delivery workers weren’t among those laid off.
Late last month, the Seattle-based tech titan said it was eliminating 14,000 staffers as part of restructuring. The move was aimed at “reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets,” wrote Beth Galetti, senior VP of people experience in a blog post on Oct. 28.
The company is reportedly planning to slash a total of 30,000 corporate jobs in the latest round of cuts – or about 9% of its global office-based workforce, sources told Reuters.
The layoffs are expected to continue in January, after the holiday shopping season, according to a New York Times report.
Amazon has slashed tens of thousands of jobs since Andy Jassy took over the helm from the company’s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, in 2021.
Amazon typically employs thousands of workers at its locations and none of the nine offices that saw layoffs in New York City is expected to close.
As of 2023, Amazon employed 2,000 people inside the grand old Lord & Taylor building where the tech company established its “New York Tech Hub.” The 11-story, Italian Renaissance Revival tower boasts a landscaped rooftop with trees, an indoor dining area and even a dog run.
Amazon’s recent New York City layoffs include 91 jobs at 410 Tenth Ave, 58 positions at 7 W. 34th St., 41 jobs at 330 W. 34th St., 38 jobs at 237 Park Ave., nine jobs at 315 Park Ave. S, seven at 215 Park Ave. S. and one unlucky person at 6 W. 35th St., according to public records.
“Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well,” Galetti wrote last month. “This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.”
