Amazon will report earnings after the closing bell on Thursday. Analysts want updates on AI progress, AWS, and retail margins.

The direct action taken by companies to cut jobs, for different reasons, may act as a warning that a snowball effect could be in the works.

Amazon has faced pressure from investors to tighten its finances as it spends big on the AI race. The company says it will cut 14,000 jobs, citing a goal of "reducing bureaucracy, removing layers."

Amazon stock is up 43% over the last five years, badly underperforming other Magnificent Seven stocks and the broader S&P 500.

The company didn’t say how many video-game jobs will be cut but noted “significant role reductions” in both cities.

Microsoft's Azure platform and other company services are experiencing an outage that started around 12:00 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. The company reported that the outage was triggered by "an inadvertent configuration change" that impacted the Azure Front Door delivery network.

The NBA Tip-Off 2025 had nearly 37 million viewers in the United States tuning in across NBC/Peacock, ESPN and Amazon Prime. This marks a staggering 100% increase year-to-year and the most viewers for an opening week in 15 years.

Business Insider's reporters walk through the big layoffs at Amazon, why the cuts came, and who could be next.