Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wants the tech giant to think small — startup small.

After announcing 14,000 layoffs this week, Jassy made clear on Amazon’s earnings call Thursday the decision wasn’t about tightening the purse strings or even the rise of AI.

It was about speed and culture, CNN reports.

“It’s not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI driven… it’s culture,” he told analysts after Amazon’s blockbuster quarter, which saw revenue climb 13% to $180 billion.

Amazon’s stock (AMZN) jumped 12.77% in premarket trading Thursday to $251.35 a share.

Over the years, Amazon has ballooned in size — more people, more teams, more layers.

Headcount was 1.6 million in 2021, according to SEC filings. Last year, the behemoth ended with 1.5 million employees. It is the second-biggest private employer in the world behind Walmart (WMT), which has 2.1 million employees.

To Jassy, that growth came at a cost: bureaucracy.

“Sometimes without realizing it, you can weaken the ownership of the people doing the actual work,” he said.

Jassy’s mission now? Strip away the red tape and return to Amazon’s entrepreneurial roots.

“We are committed to operating like the world’s largest startup,” he said — meaning flatter org charts, faster decisions, and a company that moves as quickly as its customers expect.

The layoffs, Amazon insists, are about staying nimble as new technologies like AI reshape the business landscape.