Microsoft is laying off about 6,000 staff, which is nearly 3% of its global workforce, with managers in its home state of Washington bearing the brunt of the cuts.
The firm said the cuts are across all levels, teams and geographies, but it confirmed the focus was on reducing manager numbers. A third of the jobs are going at its Redmond headquarters.
In the third quarter, Microsoft said sales were up 13% year-on-year, with AI-related demand powering Azure cloud services growth.
In an April earnings call though, the impending cuts move was signalled by chief financial officer Amy Hood. She said Microsoft was focused on “building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers”.
These are the biggest round of cuts since early 2023, when Microsoft laid off 10,000 staff, or almost 5% of its workforce, when it joined other major companies in a post-pandemic jobs cull.
As of last June, Microsoft employed 228,000 full-time workers, with over half employed in the US.
