Microsoft Corp. has offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly 27% of its global workforce, the company said Monday as it expands efforts to reshape staffing while continuing heavy investment in artificial intelligence.
Who is eligible and what the company said
Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s chief people officer, announced the voluntary exit offer in a blog post and said it is open to eligible employees in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and India. Coleman described the program as a new approach for the company.
“The Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us,” Coleman wrote. “We’ll learn from it. At the same time, we’ll keep helping people focus on the work that matters most, build new skills and, where it makes sense, find new opportunities across Microsoft.”
Scale and recent history
Microsoft reported having about 223,000 full-time employees at the end of June. The 60,000-offer represents a substantially larger voluntary program than previously reported plans limited to U.S. operations. In May, plans surfaced to offer buyouts to about 8,750 people in the United States. In July, Microsoft cut 4,800 jobs, including a large number of roles at its Xbox division.
- The voluntary exit offer covers eligible employees in the U.S., U.K., Canada and India.
- Microsoft had about 223,000 full-time employees at the end of June.
- The company made cuts of 4,800 jobs in July and had earlier planned a smaller buyout for the U.S.
Context: AI investment and financial position
The buyout offer arrives as Microsoft pours resources into artificial intelligence and related infrastructure. The company and other industry observers have pointed to large-scale spending on data centers and chips to support AI workloads; one source cited in reporting said such investment is likely topping $700 billion this year. Microsoft is due to publish quarterly financial results Wednesday, and its shares recently traded near all-time highs, rising about 1% on Monday.
Coleman said the company will help affected employees build new skills and, where appropriate, look for new roles inside Microsoft. The company did not release a timetable for the voluntary offer, nor did it provide details on the financial terms or eligibility criteria in the blog post excerpt released Monday.
Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington.
