Microsoft

Microsoft laid off 42 employees on 2025-09-08.

Microsoft announced layoffs affecting approximately 9,000 employees on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, marking another significant workforce reduction for the tech giant. This cut represents less than 4% of its global workforce, which stood at 228,000 people as of June 2024. The move is part of ongoing organizational changes aimed at streamlining management layers and positioning the company for success in a dynamic marketplace, particularly within its gaming division. This follows several previous rounds of layoffs in recent years, including a cut of over 6,000 jobs in May 2025. Despite these reductions, Microsoft remains highly profitable, having reported strong quarterly earnings and record stock prices, as it continues to focus on growth areas like Azure cloud services.

Microsoft on 2025-06-24.

Microsoft laid off 305 employees representing approximately 3% of its workforce on 2025-06-02.

Microsoft laid off 6,000 employees representing approximately 3% of its workforce on 2025-05-13.

Microsoft, a major technology corporation, has conducted a new round of layoffs affecting teams in security, experiences and devices, sales, and gaming. These cuts, which began notifying employees on January 14, 2025, are described by the company as small in scale and are separate from ongoing performance-based workforce reductions. While Microsoft did not disclose the exact number of employees impacted, the move comes despite the company's recent public emphasis, led by CEO Satya Nadella, on making cybersecurity its top priority following past security failures. The layoffs highlight ongoing strategic adjustments within the tech giant's various divisions.

Microsoft is planning a round of job cuts focused on underperforming employees, with reductions occurring across the company, including its key security division. While the exact number of layoffs was not disclosed, the company had approximately 228,000 full-time employees as of late June. These performance-based cuts, reported in early January 2025, are part of a broader effort to prioritize high-performance talent, similar to moves by competitors. Microsoft often backfills these roles, so the overall headcount may not see a significant change. The technology giant, a leader in the software and cloud computing industry, is intensifying its performance management, with managers recently evaluating employees up to senior levels.

Microsoft laid off 650 employees from its gaming division on September 12, 2024, as part of ongoing restructuring following its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Xbox chief Phil Spencer stated the cuts primarily affect corporate and support functions, aiming to align the business for long-term success. He clarified that no games, studios, or devices were canceled. This brings the total gaming workforce reductions since the acquisition to 2,550. The layoffs reflect broader consolidation in the video game industry, with Microsoft, a tech giant, streamlining operations to integrate the massive acquisition while supporting affected staff with severance and transition services.

Microsoft laid off 650 employees from its Xbox division.

Microsoft on 2024-07-03.

Microsoft, the global technology giant, announced a restructuring on June 4, 2024, resulting in layoffs affecting approximately 1,000 employees. The cuts specifically targeted teams within the Mixed Reality organization, including those working on the HoloLens 2 headset, and the Azure for Operators and Mission Engineering teams focused on ambitious cloud "moonshot" projects. This move, part of the broader tech industry's ongoing adjustments, follows a larger round of over 10,000 layoffs the previous year. The company stated it remains committed to key defense contracts and the mixed reality ecosystem while continuing to shift its strategic focus, particularly toward significant investments in artificial intelligence.

Microsoft is laying off approximately 1,900 employees from its gaming division, which includes teams at Activision Blizzard, Xbox, and ZeniMax. This reduction, announced in late January 2024, represents about 8% of the Microsoft Gaming workforce, which totals around 22,000 employees. The layoffs are part of a broader strategy to integrate the recently acquired Activision Blizzard and align on a sustainable cost structure, eliminating areas of overlap. In addition to the job cuts, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has departed, and a planned Blizzard survival game has been canceled.

Microsoft has laid off over 1,000 employees in the past week, primarily within its sales and customer service teams, including the dissolution of its "Digital Sales and Success" group. These cuts exceed the 10,000 job reductions announced earlier in 2023 and are part of a strategic shift to accelerate product consumption rather than traditional customer support. The layoffs, which also affected engineering and marketing roles, coincide with the start of Microsoft's new fiscal year in July and have been implemented with limited communication from leadership, leaving many managers and employees uncertain about the rationale.

Microsoft laid off 158 employees on 2023-05-10.

Microsoft laid off the team responsible for teaching employees how to make AI tools responsibly, as part of a restructuring effort.

Microsoft announced on January 18, 2023, that it will lay off 10,000 employees, representing roughly 5% of its global workforce of about 221,000. The job cuts, set to begin immediately and continue through the third quarter of the fiscal year, are a response to macroeconomic challenges and shifting customer priorities. CEO Satya Nadella described the move as a difficult but necessary step to adapt to changing conditions and refocus the company's investments on strategic growth areas. This decision aligns with a broader slowdown in the tech industry, which saw significant layoffs across major firms in 2022.

Microsoft, the global technology giant, has conducted another round of layoffs, affecting fewer than 1,000 employees. This move, confirmed on Monday, follows a similar reduction three months prior and comes as the company anticipates its slowest revenue growth in over five years, partly due to weaker PC Windows license sales. While the exact percentage is not specified relative to its total workforce of over 200,000, the cuts reflect broader cost-cutting trends in the tech industry, where companies like Meta and Salesforce are also adjusting hiring. Microsoft stated it continues to evaluate business priorities and will keep investing in key growth areas despite these structural adjustments.

Microsoft, the global technology giant, initiated a small round of layoffs affecting less than 1% of its workforce, which totaled 181,000 employees as of mid-2021. This strategic realignment, announced in early July 2022 as the company entered its 2023 fiscal year, reflects broader economic pressures and a shift in hiring strategies across the tech industry. Faced with potential recession risks, rising interest rates, and a slowdown in growth-oriented investments, Microsoft and peers like Meta and Amazon have adopted more cautious approaches. The cuts, while minimal, impacted various groups and followed earlier guidance reductions due to unfavorable foreign exchange rates and a significant decline in PC shipments affecting the Windows business. This marks Microsoft's first notable layoff announcement since 2017, as it continues to evaluate and adjust its business operations while still planning to invest and grow headcount in certain areas ahead.

Microsoft laid off journalists to replace them with AI, as part of a move towards automation in its operations.