Looks like Andy Gassy is readying for his annual bonus so decided to gas 1000s of his employees like Saddam Hussain had.

Well, he is the boss, so his decision how he runs his company. However what is not okay is when you axe so many employees and sneakily file for H1Bs. That is what Amazon is doing. Look at what they are doing here.
https://h1bgrader.com/h1b-sponsors/amazon-dot-com-services-llc-x237343nkg/lca/2025

If this sounds familiar, it may but this is today's news.

Amazon to cut thousands of jobs in sweeping corporate layoffs
https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/amazon-cut-thousands-jobs-sweeping-corporate-layoffs
Published January 23, 2026 2:40am EST

Second wave of layoffs could begin next week, targeting nearly 10% of corporate workforce across AWS, retail and Prime Video divisions

Quote:

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Amazon is planning to cut thousands of jobs as part of a broader push to eliminate nearly 10% of its corporate workforce, according to Reuters.

After initially cutting roughly 14,000 white-collar jobs in October, Amazon is expected to launch a second round of layoffs impacting a similar number of employees, with an overall target of about 30,000 jobs, although the scope may change, according to two sources cited by Reuters.
If fully realized, the cuts would amount to the largest layoffs in Amazon's history, surpassing the roughly 27,000 jobs the company cut in 2022.
According to Reuters, the layoffs could begin as early as next week and impact employees across Amazon Web Services, retail, human resources (known internally as People Experience and Technology) and Prime Video.

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Quote:

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Reuters reported that the e-commerce giant linked the October cuts to the rise of artificial intelligence software, saying in an internal letter to staff that "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."
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last year he expected the retailer's corporate workforce to diminish resulting from the efficiencies stemming from using AI.
But Jassy later told analysts during the company's third-quarter earnings call that the layoffs were not financially driven or directly connected to AI, but rather the result of excessive bureaucracy, Reuters reported.
"You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers," Jassy said.

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I think your record is stuck on the same tune.

Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

Good CEO.

Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

True
I've seen small layoffs (less than 10%) that improved morale once those that were not laid off saw who was leaving.

Didn't Lee Iocca layoff a ton of workers? He was praised for his actions in saving Chrysler.

There is so much waste in these big public companies... hard to argue.

Al "Chainsaw" Dunlap says hold my beer (think he is dead, but he was a special kind of ruthless in cutting workforces.

This one needs some perspective. Amazon had 800k employees in 2019. Covid hit, everyone went home and they hired an additional 800k in just a mere two years putting them at 1.6M employees by 2021.

They will still have 1.5M employees after these layoffs. So these make sense and I'm not sure why he's using AI as the excuse as the real reason is exactly below. It can't possibly not be the following with that many employees added in that short of time.

Quote:

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But Jassy later told analysts during the company's third-quarter earnings call that the layoffs were not financially driven or directly connected to AI, but rather the result of excessive bureaucracy, Reuters reported.

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Hopefully this helps my 401k.

Logos Stick said:

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Hopefully this helps my 401k.

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Wall Street couldn't agree more.

Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

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Back then, Jack Welch's methods were applauded but now they are derided. The man had no compassion and those people cannot be good leaders as they are all about taking, not giving. Why would someone trust a man like this? He invented the stackranking system which is another failed way to judge people.

Just like back in the old days of the Egyptian Pharoahs, slave driving helped them built the great Pyramids. Now we don't have monuments of that scale because we cannot treat humans so bad as the ancient Egyptians did.

Rapier108 said:

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I think your record is stuck on the same tune.

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Doesn't make him wrong.

infinity ag said:

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Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

Back then, Jack Welch's methods were applauded but now they are derided. The man had no compassion and those people cannot be good leaders as they are all about taking, not giving. Why would someone trust a man like this? He invented the stackranking system which is another failed way to judge people.

Just like back in the old days of the Egyptian Pharoahs, slave driving helped them built the great Pyramids. Now we don't have monuments of that scale because we cannot treat humans so bad as the ancient Egyptians did.

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Not sure if compassion can ever be truly part of a layoff no matter how hard we try. Curious to know how you've handled this.

infinity ag said:

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Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

Back then, Jack Welch's methods were applauded but now they are derided. The man had no compassion and those people cannot be good leaders as they are all about taking, not giving. Why would someone trust a man like this? He invented the stackranking system which is another failed way to judge people.

Just like back in the old days of the Egyptian Pharoahs, slave driving helped them built the great Pyramids. Now we don't have monuments of that scale because we cannot treat humans so bad as the ancient Egyptians did.

---

30 fold increase in market cap pre unrestrained Fed stimulus to juice asset prices following the GFC. Sounds like noone trusted him.

There's a lot of irony in your sanctimony.

My way or the highway is how you view these CEOs yet somehow you're offended they choose their way.

tunefx said:

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infinity ag said:

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Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

Back then, Jack Welch's methods were applauded but now they are derided. The man had no compassion and those people cannot be good leaders as they are all about taking, not giving. Why would someone trust a man like this? He invented the stackranking system which is another failed way to judge people.

Just like back in the old days of the Egyptian Pharoahs, slave driving helped them built the great Pyramids. Now we don't have monuments of that scale because we cannot treat humans so bad as the ancient Egyptians did.

---

Not sure if compassion can ever be truly part of a layoff no matter how hard we try. Curious to know how you've handled this.

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The main issue is these guys react to short term signals as they don't have a vision. They are no patch on Steve Jobs or Bill Gates who were extraordinary people.

1. If he hired a large number during COVID, it's his mistake for hiring on a short term event by near-doubling the company. We have normalized poor leadership just because it is a rich famous name.
2. Lay people off, but you don't get to file H1Bs. Now this is not on the CEO, this is for the US Government to look into. I hope President Trump is watching. I posted the link to Amazon's recent H1B filings in the OP.

Sims said:

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infinity ag said:

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Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

Back then, Jack Welch's methods were applauded but now they are derided. The man had no compassion and those people cannot be good leaders as they are all about taking, not giving. Why would someone trust a man like this? He invented the stackranking system which is another failed way to judge people.

Just like back in the old days of the Egyptian Pharoahs, slave driving helped them built the great Pyramids. Now we don't have monuments of that scale because we cannot treat humans so bad as the ancient Egyptians did.

---

30 fold increase in market cap pre unrestrained Fed stimulus to juice asset prices following the GFC. Sounds like noone trusted him.

There's a lot of irony in your sanctimony.

My way or the highway is how you view these CEOs yet somehow you're offended they choose their way.

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Again short term. There are a lot of people who do that while bankrupting the company for the long term. Pfizer did that once by canceling their long term drug program and killing their pipeline.

I am not complaining about his layoffs. I am complaining that he files for H1Bs while laying off 10000 American workers. That and that alone is my complaint.


How Jack Welch Broke Capitalism and Shattered the American Middle Class
https://medium.com/the-polis/how-jack-welch-broke-capitalism-and-shattered-the-american-middle-class-b03a0f615828

The postwar dream of shared prosperity was real until one CEO made shareholder profits the only thing that mattered

infinity ag said:

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Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

Back then, Jack Welch's methods were applauded but now they are derided. The man had no compassion and those people cannot be good leaders as they are all about taking, not giving. Why would someone trust a man like this? He invented the stackranking system which is another failed way to judge people.

Just like back in the old days of the Egyptian Pharoahs, slave driving helped them built the great Pyramids. Now we don't have monuments of that scale because we cannot treat humans so bad as the ancient Egyptians did.

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Good gracious, hyperbole much? You are a good contributor to the board, but the obvious case of CEO Derangement Syndrome undermines credibility.

infinity ag said:

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I am not complaining about his layoffs. I am complaining that he files for H1Bs while laying off 10000 American workers. That and that alone is my complaint.

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Totally agree on this point. CEOs aren't perfect and can't predict tough economic times with 100% certainty. But to layoff people while simultaneously hiring h1b workers should not be allowed. In fact, IMO you shouldn't be able to do ANY mass layoff of employees while you have h1b workers in those same roles as well. The h1b's should be let go first.

Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

This. Bottom 10% are likely duds

Layoffs happen. Hell, it's happened to me more than once. But the H1B thing is not right. Those people should be the first to go, then re-evaluate if you still need staff reductions.

infinity ag said:

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Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

Back then, Jack Welch's methods were applauded but now they are derided. The man had no compassion and those people cannot be good leaders as they are all about taking, not giving. Why would someone trust a man like this? He invented the stackranking system which is another failed way to judge people.

Just like back in the old days of the Egyptian Pharoahs, slave driving helped them built the great Pyramids. Now we don't have monuments of that scale because we cannot treat humans so bad as the ancient Egyptians did.

---

I love the Welch method. The deadwood needs to be ditched and ditched as quickly as it's identified. For the sake of the company's health, fellow employee engagement and for the sake of the deadwood.

We carried a guy who was deadwood way too long one time. We merged and nuked the guy. At that point he's much older, has a family, roots in the ground, and is out on the street. He should've been canned early on as a wake up call. He could have pivoted and possibly found a much better fit and it would have been much easier.

"Well, he is the boss, so his decision how he runs his company. However what is not okay is when you axe so many employees and sneakily file for H1Bs. That is what Amazon is doing. Look at what they are doing here."

15K LCA's. Same as last year. So, I am no idea why you attribute this to these layoffs. Although they could be related.

More importantly, how in the heck is this "sneaky"? It is all publicly known and widely distributed. If you are going to manufacture pejoratives, how about giving us our money's worth?

:-)

BTW - I still am not paying, so I guess you are already giving me my money's worth. Although I do feel comparing this to gassing people is funny.

captkirk said:

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Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

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This. Bottom 10% are likely duds

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Intentionally missing the point. Its not layoffs, its replacing Americans with foreigners.

javajaws said:

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infinity ag said:

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I am not complaining about his layoffs. I am complaining that he files for H1Bs while laying off 10000 American workers. That and that alone is my complaint.

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Totally agree on this point. CEOs aren't perfect and can't predict tough economic times with 100% certainty. But to layoff people while simultaneously hiring h1b workers should not be allowed. In fact, IMO you shouldn't be able to do ANY mass layoff of employees while you have h1b workers in those same roles as well. The h1b's should be let go first.

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Thank you.

It's a simple concept that some don't get or refuse to understand while they attempt to gaslight me.

Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

Yes, Rank and Yank is good in principle. You're not always going to hire the top performers, so you need to cull the bottom and keep re-hiring. There is some nuance to this, but it does work and isn't evil. It's basically the anti DEI, as it's all performance based.

so broadcasting NFL games isn't working for Amazon Prime?

(saving jobs)

Baseball Is Life said:

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Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

Yes, Rank and Yank is good in principle. You're not always going to hire the top performers, so you need to cull the bottom and keep re-hiring. There is some nuance to this, but it does work and isn't evil. It's basically the anti DEI, as it's all performance based.

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Explain to me how Welch's system works in this situation.

Team A: 10 members. Geniuses. IQ ranges from 200 to 150. Working on cutting edge AI/ML
Team B: 10 members. Average. IQ ranges from 110 to 80. Working on maintenance and manual stuff.

Super CEO Jack Welch decides to stack rank them and cull the lower 20%.

What do you think happens?

Team A: He lays off 2 people with IQs 160 and 160.
Team B: He lays off 2 people with IQs 90 and 80.

I would love to hear your comments about this approach which is how Jack Welch's method worked. Is this the right approach? Any improvements you propose? Would you keep this method if you ran the company?

infinity ag said:

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Baseball Is Life said:

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Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

Yes, Rank and Yank is good in principle. You're not always going to hire the top performers, so you need to cull the bottom and keep re-hiring. There is some nuance to this, but it does work and isn't evil. It's basically the anti DEI, as it's all performance based.

---

Explain to me how Welch's system works in this situation.

Team A: 10 members. Geniuses. IQ ranges from 200 to 150. Working on cutting edge AI/ML
Team B: 10 members. Average. IQ ranges from 110 to 80. Working on maintenance and manual stuff.

Super CEO Jack Welch decides to stack rank them and cull the lower 20%.

What do you think happens?

Team A: He lays off 2 people with IQs 160 and 160.
Team B: He lays off 2 people with IQs 90 and 80.

I would love to hear your comments about this approach which is how Jack Welch's method worked. Is this the right approach? Any improvements you propose? Would you keep this method if you ran the company?

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No, you lay off the two least effective people from each group. Maybe they are the highest, mid, or lowest IQ of their group, but IQ doesn't determine effectiveness. Give me a motivated person every day of the week.

drop the lowest in terms of effectiveness and the other 80% will be happier and more effective. Keep the low performers and everyone else sees that the minimum accepted standard is lower than what they have done, so they ease up.

same with socialism. No one will work when everyone gets equal share of slop.

If CEOs followed OPs advice, OP would complain that his investments are tanking

Very interesting article, thanks for posting. I'm neutral on this post so far but I understand both sides. I'm not a C level person but have been through so many layoffs (survived knock on wood) I understand these decisions aren't easy and that they also don't care because they're fine themselves.

Sims said:

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Back when Jack Welch did this every. single. year. he was a genius to many.

Sometimes people just don't work out and it's healthy to have some amount of turnover.

---

Back when I thought I wanted to manage people, I was compelled to put 10% of my staff on a PIP and usher them towards the door every year. (Based on performance review scores). It was awful. But productive.

Don't be in the bottom 10%.

There will be lots more layoffs at Amazon because Amazon is going all in on robots.

Quote:

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Team A: He lays off 2 people with IQs 160 and 160.
Team B: He lays off 2 people with IQs 90 and 80.

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I'd fire the guy that can't get out of his own way enough to use understand that for some businesses, "manual stuff" is as important as "cutting edge AI."

You spew this common man BS all day then presuppose hypotheticals already with a built in caste system.

Infinity: "Everyone should invest, invest, invest....it's how you get rich!"


Also Infinity: "Corporate activities are horrible, we need govt to come in and save the day against evil companies!"