According to media reports, Microsoft intends to lay off thousands of employees, most likely from the human resources and engineering divisions.
According to Sky News, Microsoft is considering laying off about 5 per cent of its workforce (over 10,000 jobs) out of a total workforce of more than 220,000 people. Adding that, Microsoft could announce the layoffs globally within a matter of days.
The cuts will be significantly larger than other rounds in the past year, a Bloomberg report said. While an analyst predicted that Wall Street would be surprised if the figure was not higher.
The company, which has bet heavily on the growth of cloud computing and now has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, is set to report second-quarter earnings next week.
If finalized, an announcement about headcount reductions is likely to be made before Microsoft’s chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella, updates investors on the company’s financial performance on January 24.
Thousands of jobs have also been lost by major technology companies such as Amazon, Meta, and Twitter in recent months. Tech companies cut more than 16,100 jobs in December alone. Last year, the industry shed the most jobs of any sector, with 100,000 jobs lost by 2022.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.