00:00Amazon just laid off 16,000 corporate workers, but the real headline isn't the layoffs, it's how the employees found out.
00:07Because Amazon, one of the biggest tech companies on earth, accidentally hit send all.
00:12Now according to the BBC, a draft layoff email from AWS Senior VP Colleen Aubrey was mistakenly attached to a calendar invite titled, no joke, Send Project Dawn Email.
00:23Employees opened it and discovered they'd been laid off before Amazon could officially tell them.
00:28Now the message was quickly cancelled, which is the corporate equivalent of pulling the fire alarm and then saying, you know what, actually never mind.
00:34Hours later, Amazon confirmed the cuts, calling them part of an effort to reduce layers and remove bureaucracy.
00:40Beth Galetti, the company's HR chief, insisted this isn't a new habit of layoffs every few months.
00:45Which is poignant because this follows 14,000 cuts in October and more than 27,000 between 2022 and 2023.
00:52Critics, especially current and former employees speaking to the BBC, say the accidental email shows how chaotic Amazon's internal communications has become.
01:01Some are even calling it emblematic of a harsher culture under CEO Andy Jassy, who's pushing mandatory five-day office weeks and tighter cost controls.
01:08Supporters, however, say this is classic Amazon, cutting layers to move faster and double down on AI.
01:13They point to the billions flowing into data centers and automation as proof that the company is positioning itself for the next big AI wave.
01:20And some big-time analysts are even arguing that restructuring could sharpen Amazon's edge against Microsoft and Google in cloud-based AI.
01:27So, yes, Amazon is cutting 16,000 jobs.
01:30But the bigger story might be that the world's biggest cloud company still struggles with email.
01:35But what do you think?
01:36Let us know in the comments.
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