Microsoft has confirmed plans to reduce its global workforce by approximately 3%, affecting thousands of employees across various divisions. The announcement comes shortly after the company reported stronger-than-expected quarterly financial results in late April.
The tech giant described the cuts as part of an “organizational restructuring” process designed to remove redundancies and improve operational efficiency. This reduction follows a pattern seen frequently after Microsoft’s acquisitions, where overlapping roles are eliminated as teams are integrated.
Despite these layoffs, Microsoft’s overall workforce has grown substantially over the past decade, nearly doubling in size. The company currently employs over 220,000 people globally across its cloud computing, software, hardware, and gaming divisions.
This latest round of cuts keeps up with trends from recent years. In 2024, Microsoft laid off around 1,400 workers, while approximately 16,000 positions were eliminated between 2022 and 2023. With this new 3% reduction, total layoffs in recent years could approach 25,000 employees.
What makes the timing noteworthy is that Microsoft recently posted record-breaking financial results, with strong revenue from cloud services, enterprise licensing, and growing contributions from its gaming division following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for nearly $69bn.
Industry analysts note that Microsoft isn’t the only one making these types of moves. Other tech giants like Google, Meta, and Amazon have all cut staff in similar ways since 2022, often talking about “restructuring for efficiency.” These layoffs usually come after periods of big company growth or major acquisitions.
There’s talk about how these cuts might affect the gaming teams such as Xbox, but the layoff announcement is company-wide and doesn’t single out any specific departments. Microsoft hasn’t said exactly which areas will see the biggest changes yet.
The corporate churn
The layoffs show a typical cycle in the tech world—companies hire lots of people during boom times, then cut back when priorities shift or new teams come on board. Even with the job cuts, Microsoft is still hiring in key areas like AI, cloud computing, and cybersecurity.
For employees losing their jobs, Microsoft usually offers severance pay, job placement help, and other support, pretty much in line with what’s standard in the tech industry. Most of these layoffs are expected to wrap up over the next few months.
