MANILA, Philippines – Microsoft said on Tuesday, May 13, it would be laying off around 3% of its workforce, or around 6,000 people, across all its levels and geographies, CNBC reported.
A Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC that it continues “to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace.”
CNBC estimated it was likely Microsoft’s largest round of layoffs since the nixing of 10,000 roles in 2023.
Microsoft had 228,000 workers as of June 2024.
A Reuters report mentioned the news follows after Microsoft posted stronger-than-expected growth in its cloud-computing business Azure and blowout results in the latest quarter.
The news is tempered by its investments into AI infrastructure — such as data centers — affecting profitability. Reuters added that Microsoft earmarked $80 billion in capital spending this fiscal year, with most of it aimed at expanding data centers to ease capacity bottlenecks for AI services. – Rappler.com