Amazon to Cut 660 NYC Office Jobs
Contrary to indications of office staff retention, or possibly expansion at a time when Amazon has been “fast expanding its footprint” in New York City, the e-commerce giant recently filed several Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices with the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL). Although Amazon reportedly claimed “it didn’t have enough space to accommodate all of the employees it called back to their workspaces five days a week,” a total of 659 jobs spread across nine buildings will be permanently cut in Manhattan. 450 West 33rd Street and the redeveloped former Lord & Taylor building at 424 Fifth Avenue will be hit the hardest, WARN notices indicate a total of 233 jobs and 182 jobs to be cut at each building respectively. Job losses will range from one to 91 at the remaining seven buildings — 410 Tenth Avenue, 7 West 34th Street, 330 West 34th Street, 237 Park Avenue, 315 Park Avenue South, 215 Park Avenue South, and 6 West 35th Street. Big block lease signings in 2024 and to date that were reported by the press include a trio of leases signed by WeWork under the flexible office space provider’s Enterprise program — 259,000 square feet at 1440 Broadway, 112,000-square-foot expansion at 5 Manhattan West located at 450 West 33rd Street, and 303,741 square feet at 330 West 34th Street. In addition, 330,000-square-foot and 193,431-square-foot leases were reportedly secured at 10 Bryant Park, also going by the address 452 Fifth Avenue, and 237 Park Avenue, which formerly went by the address 466 Lexington Avenue; and in May 2025, the completion of the $340 million purchase of 522 Fifth Avenue was posted on city records. An October press release by Amazon stated that the job cuts would strengthen the organizations with the company by “further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs.” Most of the impacted employees will have “90 days to look for a new role internally,” with added support efforts by Amazon’s recruiting teams. Amazon’s press release further noted that heightened use of artificial intelligence (AI) has enabled companies to innovate much faster, with Amazon “convinced the company needs to be “organized more leanly;” and while continued hiring is anticipated in 2026, it would be in “key strategic areas.”