Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees — over a quarter of its workforce — as the software giant works to cut costs and revamp its staff for the AI era.
Employees in the US, Canada, the UK, and India on Monday received a memo saying the voluntary exit offers “are a few of the ways we’re trying to meet different business needs while continuing to create opportunities for our own people to grow and contribute.”
Microsoft had about 223,000 employees at the time the memo went out.
Microsoft’s Xbox, Windows, Copilot and finance divisions are getting the offers, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. Workers have until Dec. 31 to make a decision, a Microsoft spokesperson said, adding that US employees will get at least eight weeks’ pay if they take a buyout.
In the spring, Microsoft offered voluntary retirement to older employees who had worked at the company for an extended period. Last year, the company laid off 9,000 employees.
“My promise is to continue to provide clarity, listen and learn and keep improving,” Microsoft’s chief people officer Amy Coleman wrote in Monday’s missive.
The company has been going all in on AI infrastructure. This past summer, it reported an 18% revenue increase, with its cloud products responsible for a big chunk of the growth.
The company, which is behind Azure and Github, is also funneling cash to its data center network.
“The best thing that can happen to Microsoft is what’s happening right now,” Microsoft’s Jared Spataro said of the company’s AI efforts at a Citigroup conference in September.
The company reported $130 billion in new data center leases earlier this year, according to Bloomberg.
“More future data center leases will appear as operating leases instead of finance leases, ” Microsoft’s chief financial exec, Amy Hood, told CNBC. “The adjustment will lead to roughly $175 billion in capital expenditures and finance leases.”
The company’s earnings call is scheduled for Wednesday.
Microsoft did not immediately answer a request for comment from The Post.
