Confirmation of second tranche of job losses at Microsoft as fewer than 1,000 employees laid off amid worsening economic outlook
Microsoft has continued to cut costs, after a company spokesman confirmed a second round of job cuts at the software giant.
On Monday, Axios reported that Microsoft internally announced layoffs across multiple divisions. There was no official confirmation of the number of staff who turned in their P45s, but Axios (citing an unnamed source) reported that the layoffs amounted to less than 1,000 people.
The layoffs appear to have come at a variety of levels, teams, and parts of the world at the tech giant.
second leg
A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the company had laid off additional workers as the software maker’s revenue is expected to decline, thanks to lower sales of Windows PC licenses, CNBC reported.
“Like all companies, we regularly assess our business priorities and make structural adjustments accordingly,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC. “We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the coming year.”
It should be noted that these latest job cuts come three months after Redmond announced a round of layoffs affecting less than 1 percent of employees in early July.
Those job losses in early July were described as part of an annual structural adjustment, which Microsoft says is routinely carried out every summer.
Then, later in July, it was reported that Microsoft had cut many vacant positions, including in its Azure cloud business and security software unit, as the economy continued to weaken.
Microsoft withdrew job postings from its cloud and security divisions, which have been performing well financially.
However, Microsoft confirmed that it would honor job offers that had already been made and make some exceptions for critical roles.
It came after a senior Microsoft executive warned management of the Windows and Office divisions in May this year to take a more conservative approach to hiring new people.
Microsoft is expected to announce its quarterly results on October 25, during which the true number of Microsoft job losses could be revealed.
Other tech players
However, Microsoft is not alone in downsizing or implementing hiring freezes.
Tesla has already restructured its operations and been cutting 10,000 jobs, after Elon Musk announced that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and planned to cut headcount by 10 percent and “pause all hiring around the world.” the world”.
In August, Apple laid off a group of people (mostly tech recruiters), in an apparent effort to slow hiring and curtail spending.
In July, Mark Gurman reported that Apple would not replace positions or add new staff in certain cases, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned in July that Alphabet planned to slow hiring and consolidate investments until 2023.
Facebook parent Meta Platforms in July lowered its goal of adding software engineers this year from 10,000 to around 6,000 to 7,000.
Last month, Zuckerberg told Meta staff that the company would freeze hiring and “further restructure” amid an uncertain macroeconomic situation.
