This time Microsoft is asking people to leave rather than telling them to. On Monday it offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, open to staff up to vice-president level in America, Canada, India and Britain.
Those who accept get benefits similar to a standard severance package, a Microsoft spokesperson said. "This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support," chief people officer Amy Coleman wrote in a note to staff. Not everyone qualifies: people familiar with the plan told Bloomberg that some staff in data centres, sales, marketing, cybersecurity and quantum computing are left out, and Microsoft declined to comment on those specifics.
Spending on machines, not people
Microsoft's reasoning comes down to two numbers. It had 223,000 employees at the end of June, a figure that has barely moved since 2022, around when it started spending heavily on AI and data centres. In July, chief financial officer Amy Hood told analysts it expects AI infrastructure, data centres included, to cost $175 billion in 2026 alone. The spokesperson said the company wants employees who are engaged on the hard problems it is trying to solve.
The offer follows real cuts. In July Microsoft said it was cutting 4,800 jobs, about 2% of its workforce, many of them in its Xbox video game business, and it laid off about 15,000 people last year, according to the Seattle Times.
Fewer takers than last time
Microsoft is not expecting a rush. An earlier buyout, aimed at employees of retirement age, was taken by more than 30% of the roughly 8,750 people offered it, and the spokesperson said far fewer are expected to accept this one.
It is not the only tech giant thinning out this way. Google offered voluntary buyouts in a number of its units last year, CNBC reported, and Meta's headcount is down by more than 20,000 from its peak in late 2022.
Microsoft reports results on Wednesday, two days after the offer, with investors looking for proof that the AI spending is paying off. Eligible staff have until early December to decide, Business Insider reports, and those who say yes leave at the end of the year.
