I’ve written quite a bit about Amazon. It was one of my first stock picks and it’s been a wild ride. More on that later, but I’ve been thinking about Amazon because it captured headlines twice in the past week. While not unusual, it seemed to me to be 2 very different stories.
Layoffs
October 28, 2025 brought us:
The rationale is that
This is not a huge surprise to me. Companies across the board are cutting costs in one area to invest more in the expensive AI tech buildout.
And not only are they investing more in the technology and infrastructure to support AI, companies are seeing that AI can do a lot of the work that employees do. My brother is a coder and he tells me that when he needs to write code to perform a function, he can ask AI (Grok, ChatGPT, Gemini, choose your favorite) and it’s done in seconds.
Last week at coffee, Rich asked ChatGPT to plan a 5 day trip for him. He provided a little info about his preferences and he got a full 5 day itinerary with hotels, meals, and events all mapped out. This caused me to poke around post what I learned.
AI is not coming, it’s here. And it can do a lot of the things people do much more quickly and efficiently.
Amazon’s announcement wasn’t a surprise, but it is sad for the 14,000 people impacted. That’s a lot.
Earnings
Several days later, Amazon announced earnings.
Here’s the story:
Quandary
How can we send 14,000 people home – no more job or paycheck – in a tough hiring market but 3 days later announce record profits?
And record doesn’t even begin to describe it. Amazon is a huge company now. Gone are the high octane growth days where the company moved double digit percentage points on earnings. But the stock gained 10%. That’s unheard of.
As a shareholder, I’m thrilled with the bump, but I’m not sure I feel good about the layoffs.
And Another Thing
I took a break from writing to read a news story at the Daily Upside.
I mentioned earlier that my daughter was talking about how difficult it is for her friends to buy their first home.
But look at this. Median age of 40!!! For a first home.
Amazon
Here’s Amazon’s stock chart since it went public.
It’s been a pretty good investment.
But while that’s true looking at the big picture, as someone who has held shares since the early 2000’s, it has not been all wine and roses
I bought some shares in 2022. That’s the peak before the huge trough. It took over a year for those shares to become profitable. It’s easy to call that a good move today, but I spent a year wondering if the party was over.
And if you zoom in to the 2000 through 2015ish period, there are lots of pullbacks of 20% and more.
Amazon has navigated market turmoil, some bad ideas like the short-lived fire phone, but overall it’s been a great investment for patient and committed shareholders.
Wrap Up
Mixed Feelings.
As a customer, I love Amazon. A package shows up on my door almost every day. I save 5% on every purchase when I use my prime card. I watch movies on Amazon prime.
As a shareholder, one of my earliest positions is up over 3,400%. That makes up for a lot of bad decisions and still leaves a healthy profit.
But the idea of laying off 14,000 when the business is soaring doesn’t feel right.
We’re in the midst of a huge transition with technology, and particularly AI. I’m not sure if it will be good or bad, but it will be different. Though some of the impacts like job cuts are troubling. And young people no longer being able to buy homes is troubling.
In NYC this morning, a new socialist mayor has been voted in promising free bus rides and city-run grocery stores.
It’s a wild time. Hang on.