A confidential email sent by mistake gave Amazon workers in multiple countries a brief, unfiltered glimpse into the company’s most recent round of layoffs.
Colleen Aubrey, a senior vice president at Amazon Web Services, wrote the message that was sent out on Tuesday in a calendar invitation by an executive assistant. The email invitation, titled “Send Project Dawn email,” discussed layoffs at Amazon and the number of jobs that will be lost in the US, Canada, and Costa Rica.
The email was quickly withdrawn, but not before employees noticed. Amazon declined to comment publicly on the incident. The contents were first reported by the BBC, which reviewed the message.
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In the draft email, Aubrey framed the layoffs as part of a longer restructuring effort. She described the cuts as a continuation of work underway for more than a year to reduce management layers, speed up decision-making, and remove internal bureaucracy.
“Changes like this are hard on everyone,” the email said, adding that leadership believed the moves were necessary to position Amazon and AWS for long-term success.
While the message confirmed layoffs were happening, many affected employees had not yet been formally notified. That lack of communication added to the unease inside the company, according to a former Amazon employee who requested anonymity.
Amazon publicly announced 14,000 job cuts in late October. Internally, however, employees expected more. The former employee said it was widely understood that leadership aimed to eliminate roughly 30,000 roles in total, with additional layoffs rolling out through the spring.
Workers impacted by earlier cuts were allowed to apply for open positions elsewhere within Amazon, though available roles were limited. Those who did not transition to new jobs received severance packages based on tenure.
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The leak comes amid a prolonged contraction across the tech industry. Since 2022, companies including Amazon, Meta, Google, and Microsoft have collectively laid off hundreds of thousands of employees. According to Layoffs. fyi, an estimated 700,000 tech workers have lost their jobs globally over the past four years.
This year alone, Meta cut several hundred additional roles, while Pinterest announced approximately 700 layoffs.
Leadership changes have shaped Amazon’s direction during this period. Since founder Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO four years ago, his successor, Andy Jassy, has overseen layoffs in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Jassy has also pushed a more rigid workplace culture. Amazon now requires employees to work in the office five days a week, a policy that sets it apart from most major tech firms. Cost-cutting efforts have extended to close monitoring of expenses, including scrutiny of corporate mobile phone reimbursements within AWS.
In a recent internal email viewed by the BBC, Jassy described the current moment as “a time to rethink everything we’ve ever done,” citing rapid global change and mounting pressures on the business.
Just hours before news of the leaked email surfaced, Amazon announced it would shut down its remaining Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go grocery stores and refocus expansion efforts on Whole Foods Market, signaling another major strategic shift.