Microsoft to lay off 10,000 employees, about 5% of workforce

Microsoft is the latest tech giant to lay off thousands of employees.

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The company announced Wednesday that it is laying off 10,000 employees as part of cost-cutting measures, CNN reported.

The number equates to about 5% of its global workforce, The Associated Press reported.

Microsoft said in a regulatory filing that it has notified employees of the layoffs, some of which are effective immediately and were in response to “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities,” the AP reported.

Speaking before the announcement of the layoffs, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company, like many others, was affected by a weaker global economy.

“No one can defy gravity and gravity here is inflation-adjusted economic growth,” Nadella said during a live stream from the World Economic Forum, CNN reported.

But while Microsoft announced layoffs, eliminating some roles, Nadella said the company is still hiring in “key strategic areas” including building a “new computer platform” using artificial intelligence, according to AP.

In a company blog post, Nadella said, We’re living through times of significant change” and that he has met with customers and partners who have started to scale back the spending they did during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re also seeing organizations in every industry and geography exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one,” he added.

Microsoft is the latest tech company to cut staffing.

The following companies already started layoffs before Microsoft’s announcement, according to CNN:

• Amazon — 18,000 workers.
• Salesforce — 10% of staff.
• Meta, the parent company of Facebook — 11,000 workers.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said that tech layoffs were up 649% in 2022 compared to 2021 levels. Overall there were 13% more layoffs across all businesses during the same time period.

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