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Tech layoffs in January 2026: From Amazon to Pinterest, list of companies cutting jobs
Here is a list of tech companies that have announced job cuts in 2026 so far, along with the reasons they have cited.
Fresh layoffs at Amazon and Meta highlight ongoing cost-cutting across the tech sector. (Image: FreePik)
2026 has begun with a new round of layoffs and firings in the tech industry, as the first few weeks of January saw big tech companies such as Amazon and Meta announce job cuts.
Although the numbers could be lower than at the start of previous years, the threat of layoffs has continued to hang over the job market as large corporations, small businesses, and startups increasingly use AI to write code for their software and adopt AI agents that automate routine tasks in order to ultimately save costs and cut reliance on people.
In 2025, a total of 1,23,941 tech employees were fired from 269 tech companies, a decline from 1,50,000 total job cuts across 549 companies in 2024, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. But last year was different because the role of AI in these job cuts became clearer. AI was behind layoffs that led to at least 55,000 people being fired in the United States in 2025, according to a report by consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
A 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) survey also found that over 41 per cent of companies worldwide are expected to reduce their workforces in the next five years because of the rise of AI. Here is a list of tech companies that have announced job cuts in 2026 so far.
Amazon
Amazon on Wednesday, January 29, announced that it is eliminating around 16,000 corporate roles globally, marking its largest round of layoffs since October 2025, when the e-commerce giant said it would axe 14,000 employees. News reports at the time had suggested that Amazon was eyeing a total target of 30,000 jobs. The company is one of the few to directly link its decision to fire employees to growing AI adoption.
“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 had said in an internal letter last year.
However, since then, the company has tried to switch gears. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told analysts during the company’s third-quarter earnings call that the reduction was “not really financially driven and it’s not even really AI-driven.” Instead, Jassy appeared to suggest that the company has too much bureaucracy.
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On Wednesday, Beth Galetti, the senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, also described the latest round of layoffs as part of broader efforts to cut back on bureaucracy inside the company.
Meta
The social media giant plans to cut around 10 per cent of the employees in its Reality Labs division who work on products including the metaverse, as per a report by The New York Times.
Reality Labs has roughly 15,000 employees who work on virtual reality headsets and virtual social networks. The team also produces Meta’s Quest mixed-reality headsets, smart glasses made with EssilorLuxottica’s Ray-Ban and augmented-reality glasses. The metaverse had been a massive project spearheaded by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who prioritised and spent heavily on the venture, only for the business to burn more than $60 billion since 2020.
Pinterest has said it will layoff over 15 per cent of its workforce as part of a global restructuring plan, as per a report by Business Insider. It is also reportedly shrinking its office spaces.
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“We are making organisational changes to further deliver on our AI-forward strategy, which includes hiring AI-proficient talent,” a Pinterest spokesperson was quoted as saying.
“As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to say goodbye to some of our team members. We are grateful for their service and supporting them with separation packages and benefits,” they added.
Expedia
Expedia has said that it fired some employees in January this year, but the exact number of workers that have been laid off is unclear. The online travel booking platform has also said it has posted new job openings.
We are eliminating roles as well as opening some new roles as we remain disciplined about assessing the skills we need for the future. We are also simplifying our structure and reducing organizational layers to move faster and with more accountability. These are not easy decisions, and we are grateful for the contributions of our colleagues who are impacted,” an Expedia Group spokesperson was quoted as saying.
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TCS
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has said that it will continue laying off employees in the March quarter as part of its planned two per cent reduction in headcount. The Indian IT services major had announced in July 2025 that it plans to cut roughly 12,000 jobs in the financial year 2025-26. The move is likely to impact primarily employees at the middle and senior management levels.
Sudeep Kunnumal, VP and chief human resources officer, TCS, said in a Q3 earnings call that the company has so far completed around 1 per cent of the planned cuts, with the rest expected to happen in the coming months.
In the first three quarters of FY2025-26, TCS net shed 25,816 employees but this number is inclusive of voluntary exits too. Meanwhile, the remaining four major IT companies — Wipro, Infosys, LTIMindtree, and HCL Technologies — have added jobs this year. Infosys led in hiring, increasing its payroll by 13,456 so far in the current financial year.
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