Microsoft to fire thousands of employees across multiple divisions

Microsoft is reportedly planning to cut thousands of jobs across multiple divisions as the company looks to restructure its workforce. The job cuts could be as high as 6,000 according to a report by Reuters. The move is expected to be announced in the near future but the timeline is not specified.

The layoffs will reportedly involve staff in divisions including customer and partner solutions, engineering, and consulting. Microsoft is said to be “realigning business groups and roles” as the company nears the end of its fiscal year.

The job cuts come as Microsoft’s revenue is expected to slow and follow no clear pattern with respect to geography or product division. The move is part of a larger trend of tech companies cutting jobs and slowing hiring as investors become increasingly fearful of a recession.

According to Sky News, Microsoft plans to cut about 5% of its workforce or about 11,000 roles soon.

Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff weighed in saying, "From a big picture perspective, another pending round of layoffs at Microsoft suggests the environment is not improving, and likely continues to worsen."

Bloomberg reported that the company plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions this week which will be significantly larger than other rounds of layoff in the past year.

Other Big Tech companies have also cut jobs recently, including Oracle, Twitter, Tesla, Meta, and Amazon. Some of these firms have cut thousands of jobs, while others have reduced their target number of new engineer hires by upwards of 30 per cent.

The job cuts at Microsoft result from the company’s need to restructure its workforce and make savings to remain competitive. While the layoffs will affect a small portion of the company’s workforce, they could have an impact on the future of Microsoft’s products and services.

According to the filings as of June 30, Microsoft had 221,000 full-time employees, including 122,000 in the United States and 99,000 internationally.