Microsoft to cut thousands of jobs across divisions - reports

Tue, January 17, 2023 

(Reuters) -Microsoft Corp plans to cut thousands of jobs with some roles expected to be eliminated in human resources and engineering divisions, according to media reports on Tuesday.

The expected layoffs would be the latest in the U.S. technology sector, where companies including Amazon.com Inc and Meta Platforms Inc have announced retrenchment exercises in response to slowing demand and a worsening global economic outlook.

Microsoft's move could indicate that the tech sector may continue to shed jobs.

"From a big picture perspective, another pending round of layoffs at Microsoft suggests the environment is not improving, and likely continues to worsen," Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said.

U.K broadcaster Sky News reported, citing sources, that Microsoft plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, or about 11,000 roles.

The company plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported, according to a person familiar with the matter, while Insider reported that Microsoft could cut recruiting staff by as much as one-third.

The cuts will be significantly larger than other rounds in the past year, the Bloomberg report said.

Microsoft declined to comment on the reports.

The company had 221,000 full-time employees, including 122,000 in the United States and 99,000 internationally, as of June 30, according to filings.

Microsoft is under pressure to maintain growth rates at its cloud unit Azure, after several quarters of downturn in the personal computer market hurt Windows and devices sales.

It had said in July last year that a small number of roles had been eliminated. In October, news site Axios reported that Microsoft had laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions.

Shares of Microsoft, which is set to report quarterly results on Jan. 24, were marginally higher in late afternoon trading.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Sriraj Kalluvila)

Microsoft to Cut Engineering Jobs This Week as Layoffs Go Deeper

Dina Bass
Tue, January 17, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter, joining the ranks of technology giants that are scaling back as the industry prepares for a prolonged slump in demand.

The magnitude of the cuts couldn’t be learned, but the person, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential matters, said the reduction will be significantly larger than other rounds at Microsoft in the past year. Those cuts impacted less than 1% of the software giant’s workforce of more than 200,000.

Microsoft most recently shrank its workforce in October and July, and has eliminated open positions and paused hiring in various groups. While technology peers such as Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Salesforce Inc. have announced cuts by the thousands in the past few months, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has so far been taking smaller steps to deal with a worsening global economic outlook and the potential for a protracted slowdown in demand for software and services.

A representative for Microsoft declined to comment. The shares, which have dropped 23% in the past year, were little changed at $240.16 at 3:06 p.m. in New York on Tuesday. Sky News earlier reported the company was planning to cut thousands of jobs, and Insider reported that Microsoft could reduce its recruiting staff by as much as a third.

Microsoft is forecast to post a sales gain of 2% in the fiscal third quarter when it reports earnings on Jan. 24. That would be the slowest revenue increase since fiscal 2017. Since then, Microsoft’s cloud-computing business has fueled a resurgence in growth, but even that business has begun to decelerate in the past year.

Still, the company has waited longer than many other technology leaders to significantly slash staff. Cloud rival Amazon is laying off more than 18,000 employees — the biggest reduction in its history. Facebook parent Meta announced widespread job cuts last fall, and beleaguered social network Twitter Inc. has slashed about half its workforce. Corporate cloud-software maker Salesforce laid off about 10% of workers earlier this month.