Microsoft has started a new round of layoffs, cutting jobs at several divisions. This comes after the company eliminated 10,000 roles earlier this year.
What happened?
- The Verge’s Tom Warren first reported the news on Twitter, saying that sales teams “seem to be the most impacted” by the new round of layoffs at Microsoft so far.
- An unknown number of people at customer service, support, education, and Modern Work divisions were also laid off.
Microsoft has started another round of layoffs today. I’m still working to confirm the amount of people affected. Sales teams seem to be the most impacted so far, along with employees in support roles, education, and Microsoft’s Modern Work teams
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) July 10, 2023
- Microsoft later confirmed it to GeekWire, but declined to provide the scope of the job cuts.
- “Organizational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing our business,” the statement reads. “We will continue to prioritize and invest in strategic growth areas for our future and in support of our customers and partners.”
- GeekWire also spotted a new filing with the Washington state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) system that shows a total of 276 layoffs.
Microsoft’s previous round of job cuts
- In January, Microsoft announced its decision to lay off 10,000 employees through the third quarter of FY23 ended March 31.
- “As we saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we’re now seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less,” CEO Satya Nadella said at the time.
- The job cuts primarily affected recruiting staff and people working in a number of engineering positions. This also included employees at Microsoft’s gaming divisions and the teams behind games like Starfield and Halo Infinite.
- Microsoft is one of many tech companies that have started cutting costs this year. For example, Google laid off 12,000 people, Unity eliminated around 600 roles, and Embrace Group recently announced the switch to cost-cutting mode as part of its business restructuring, not to mention a number of smaller game developers across the globe.