Microsoft began issuing layoff notices to thousands of employees Tuesday morning, two weeks after hinting at plans to streamline its workforce by cutting layers of management and making its teams more agile.
Fewer than 3% of Microsoft’s global workforce is expected to be impacted by the latest round of cuts. That puts the number of layoffs around 6,000 people globally. That estimate is based on Microsoft’s latest official count of 228,000 employees as of June 2024, taking into account performance-based job cuts by the company earlier this year.
The company did not say whether efficiencies from AI are playing into the cuts.
“We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement this morning.
Unlike the earlier layoffs this year, which were performance-based, the latest reductions are broader in scope — affecting a mix of levels, geographies, and teams across the company, including LinkedIn.
On Microsoft’s April 30 earnings call, CFO Amy Hood said the company was focused “on building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers.”
Hood said headcount was up 2% year-over-year, but down slightly in the March quarter from the December quarter. That reduction aligns with reports that the company started making performance-based cuts in January.
Microsoft’s layoffs are part of a broader trend of job cuts across the tech industry this year, as companies adjust to the uncertain economy and look to make their operations more efficient overall with help from AI.
More than 53,000 tech employees have been laid off at 126 companies so far this year, according to Layoffs.fyi. That compares to 152,922 tech employees laid off at 551 companies in all of 2024, and 264,220 at 1,193 companies in 2023.
Developing story, more to come.
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