Microsoft pushes redunancies to 60,000 workers
Software titan Microsoft is looking to slash its global workforce by more than a quarter, offering redundancies to 60,000 workers.
Microsoft executive vice president Amy Coleman said in a blog post early Tuesday morning that the voluntary exit offer would be available to “eligible employees in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States”.
Microsoft is offering 60,000 workers a voluntary buyout. AP
“This is a time-limited, voluntary program that gives those who are eligible the opportunity to leave Microsoft with financial support and career planning resources,” she wrote.
“Some organisations are providing the voluntary exit offer, and some are not. Participation varies based on each business’s priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.”
CNN confirmed the offer would extend to 60,000 employees, about 27 per cent of Microsoft’s global workforce.
It comes on the heels of an early retirement buyout offer Microsoft made to about 8600 long-term employees in April, as the company sheds numbers in an ongoing major AI-prompted restructure.
The company, which releases its quarterly financial results on Wednesday, had approximately 223,000 full-time employees at the end of June.
Shares of Microsoft Corp, based in Redmond, Washington, hit an all-time high this month. The stock rose about 1 per cent on Monday (US time).
The gusher of investment in data centres – likely topping $US700 billion (about $998 billion) this year – to power artificial intelligence has made memory chips, computer processors and other equipment, as well as electricity, more expensive.
Economists expect it will continue to push up inflation at least through the end of this year.
Amy Coleman announced the redundancies in a blog post on Tuesday morning. Peter Rae
Microsoft has been ramping up its AI capabilities for several years
In 2024, the company revealed a new class of AI-imbued personal computers that centred on fusing its AI assistant, called Copilot, into the Windows operating system for PCs, where Microsoft already has the eyes of millions of consumers.
And in October 2025 Microsoft introduced a new artificial intelligence character called Mico, a floating cartoon face shaped like a blob or flame that embodies the software giant’s Copilot virtual assistant.
– reported with Associated Press.
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