Mumbai, January 30: The technology sector has entered 2026 with a fresh wave of workforce reductions, as industry giants including Amazon and Meta announced significant job cuts in the final week of January. While the overall volume of layoffs appears lower than the peaks seen in previous years, the trend highlights a persistent shift towards corporate restructuring. These decisions are increasingly influenced by the adoption of artificial intelligence to automate routine tasks and a strategic push to eliminate management bureaucracy within large-scale organisations.

Data from industry trackers indicates that while 123,941 tech employees were let go in 2025, a decline from the 150,000 cuts in 2024, the rationale behind these moves has evolved. Consulting firms now estimate that AI-driven automation played a direct role in tens of thousands of redundancies over the past year. Furthermore, a 2025 World Economic Forum survey suggests that over 41 per cent of companies worldwide expect to further reduce headcounts over the next five years as AI integration matures. Amazon Layoffs: Fresh Round of Job Cuts on January 27 Likely to Hit 16,000 Employees, India Teams Face Bigger Impact,

Amazon Layoffs 2026

Amazon announced on Wednesday, January 29, that it is eliminating approximately 16,000 corporate roles globally. This marks the company’s largest single round of layoffs since late 2025 and brings it closer to a reported internal target of 30,000 total job cuts. While the e-commerce giant previously linked staff reductions to the transformative nature of AI, leadership has recently shifted the narrative towards internal efficiency.

CEO Andy Jassy and Senior VP Beth Galetti have characterised the latest move as an effort to reduce bureaucracy and organisational layers. By streamlining the corporate structure, the company aims to innovate faster and move away from a purely financial or AI-driven explanation for the departures.

Meta Layoffs 2026

Social media conglomerate Meta is reportedly planning to reduce the workforce within its Reality Labs division by 10 per cent. This department, which consists of roughly 15,000 employees, is responsible for the company’s metaverse projects, including Quest mixed-reality headsets and Ray-Ban smart glasses.

The restructuring follows years of heavy investment in augmented and virtual reality. Despite being a priority for CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the Reality Labs division has seen significant financial losses, reportedly exceeding USD 60 billion since 2020. The latest cuts suggest a tightening of hardware and metaverse-related spending.

Pinterest Layoffs 2026

Pinterest has confirmed it will lay off over 15 per cent of its global workforce as part of a comprehensive restructuring plan. The visual discovery platform is also reducing its physical office footprint to align with a more decentralised, AI-forward operational strategy.

A spokesperson for Pinterest stated that the organisational changes are designed to allow the company to pivot towards hiring AI-proficient talent. The firm is providing separation packages and benefits to those affected as it shifts its focus towards a new generation of software development driven by machine learning.

Expedia Layoffs 2026

Online travel giant Expedia Group has also confirmed a round of job cuts in January 2026, though the company has not yet disclosed the exact number of impacted employees. The move is part of a broader strategy to simplify the organisational structure and reduce layers of management to increase accountability.

An Expedia spokesperson noted that while some roles are being eliminated, the company is simultaneously opening new positions. This suggests a skills-based realignment as the travel platform reassesses the technical expertise required to compete in an AI-dominated market.

TCS Layoffs 2026

In the Indian IT sector, Tata Consultancy Services is proceeding with its planned two per cent reduction in total headcount. The company had announced in July 2025 that it intended to cut roughly 12,000 positions during the 2025–26 financial year. These cuts are primarily impacting employees at the middle and senior management levels as the firm seeks to optimise its leadership structure. Layoffs: Indian Techie Lands New Job With 50% Salary Hike Within 1 Month of Sudden Termination; Social Media Post Goes Viral.

According to Sudeep Kunnumal, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at TCS, the company has completed about half of its planned reductions so far. This trend is not uniform across the Indian IT landscape, as competitors such as Infosys and HCL Technologies have reported net hiring gains during the same period.

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(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 30, 2026 09:49 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).