Microsoft Looks To Lay Off Thousands Potentially: Reports

Microsoft is reportedly laying off less than 1 percent of employees.

Microsoft is reportedly laying off less than 1 percent of employees, putting the potential number of workers let go in the thousands.

The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant had previously told multiple news outlets the layoffs fell across the security division and other departments and are based on performance.

“At Microsoft we focus on high-performance talent,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CRN. “We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action.”

Microsoft Layoffs

Business Insider reportedthat Microsoft tends to backfill roles vacated for performance reasons, resulting in little change to the overall employee count. Microsoft had about 228,000 full-time employees at the end of June.

Microsoft has made employee cuts in the past in January, notably reducing its workforce by 10,000people starting in January 2023–less than 5 percent of the employee base at the time.

The vendor–whose partner ecosystem numbers about 400,000–isn’t alone in starting the new year revisiting its employee count. Citrix’s parent company confirmed layoffs to CRN this week.

The cuts also come as Microsoft invests tens of billions of dollars in maintaining its leadership in the emerging artificial intelligence market–with AI holding the potential to replace some jobs of today and making existing workforces more productive.