Microsoft to reportedly offer buyouts to 60,000 employees in latest cuts
News Source
β’Mon, 26 Oct 2026 18:44:31 GMT
π° What Happened
Microsoft is offering buyouts to about 60,000 employees, according to Bloomberg. A buyout is money paid to help a worker leave their job by choice. The company wants to cut costs as it spends more and more on artificial intelligence.
Xbox, Windows and Copilot are among the divisions taking part. Staff in cybersecurity, data centres and marketing cannot take the offer. Microsoft employs about 223,000 people around the world.
In April it already offered voluntary retirement to about 7% of its US staff. Amy Coleman, Microsoft's people chief, said the offer gives workers "a new choice to make that transition now with support".
π The Backstory
Tech firms have cut jobs all year while telling investors that AI is making them work better. Meta said in April it would cut about 8,000 jobs, or 10% of staff. Amazon has trimmed its retail arm, and Oracle cut around 21,000 roles in June.
But it is not clear the cuts have made these companies work better. The National Bureau of Economic Research surveyed 9,000 senior executives worldwide. Nine in ten said AI had not yet led to higher productivity at their firms.
Microsoft's Ryan Roslansky has also complained in public about "AI slop" inside the workforce. That is a rare admission from a top boss that the tools are not always helping.
π― Why It Matters
Microsoft is a huge global employer, and AI spending is now being paid for with jobs. Other big tech firms tend to copy whatever Microsoft does next.
Microsoft is offering buyouts to about 60,000 employees, according to Bloomberg. A buyout is money paid to help a worker leave their job by choice. The company wants to cut costs as it spends more and more on artificial intelligence.
Xbox, Windows and Copilot are among the divisions taking part. Staff in cybersecurity, data centres and marketing cannot take the offer. Microsoft employs about 223,000 people around the world.
In April it already offered voluntary retirement to about 7% of its US staff. Amy Coleman, Microsoft's people chief, said the offer gives workers "a new choice to make that transition now with support".
Tech firms have cut jobs all year while telling investors that AI is making them work better. Meta said in April it would cut about 8,000 jobs, or 10% of staff. Amazon has trimmed its retail arm, and Oracle cut around 21,000 roles in June.
But it is not clear the cuts have made these companies work better. The National Bureau of Economic Research surveyed 9,000 senior executives worldwide. Nine in ten said AI had not yet led to higher productivity at their firms.
Microsoft's Ryan Roslansky has also complained in public about "AI slop" inside the workforce. That is a rare admission from a top boss that the tools are not always helping.
Microsoft is a huge global employer, and AI spending is now being paid for with jobs. Other big tech firms tend to copy whatever Microsoft does next.