The offer and who is involved
Microsoft announced on Monday that it had offered voluntary exit packages to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, according to The Korea Herald, citing an AFP dispatch. The offer covers staff on selected teams in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom, at the level of vice president or below. A company spokesperson specified that some employee groups are excluded, including some of those working in data centers, sales and marketing.
The initiative is the second voluntary buyout proposal Microsoft has made to its employees this year. In April, the company offered about 7% of its US workforce the option of early retirement; according to CNBC, about 30% of those eligible accepted the plan. The company had 223,000 employees globally at the end of June, down from 228,000 at the end of 2025, according to regulatory documents. About 27% of its staff are eligible for the new offer.
The financial context and the AI race
The move comes at a time when Microsoft is seeking to reduce costs while allocating substantial resources to artificial intelligence. The company will publish its quarterly results later this week. In the April-June quarter, Microsoft spent a total of $41 billion and expected that to rise to $50 billion in the July-September period. However, the company reduced its forecast for total spending for calendar year 2026 to $175 billion, from the $190 billion previously indicated.
CFO Amy Hood, during a call with analysts, explained that about two-thirds of the spending is for short-lifecycle assets, particularly chips, to meet customer demand for both AI and non-AI infrastructure. In July, Microsoft had also cut nearly 5,000 jobs, concentrated mainly in the Xbox gaming division.
Other companies and the employment question
The issue of cuts runs across the technology sector. According to reports in the US media last week, Netflix will cut about 6% of its workforce, equivalent to 1,000 jobs. eBay laid off 1,000 employees at the start of this month, after a previous round that involved 800 positions. In May, Meta reduced about 10% of its global workforce, about 8,000 people, and in April it announced the cancellation of 6,000 planned hires and the transfer of 7,000 employees to roles related to AI workflows. In September, Uber announced it would cut about 10% of its staff, estimated at 3,000 or more employees, while in January Amazon announced 16,000 global layoffs.
The dispatch recalls that Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta are collectively on track to invest about $700 billion this year in data centers, chips and computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence. Still to be verified are the actual uptake of the offer, the final number of exits and the impact on the accounts that the company will report this week. Figures within the industry, such as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, have also warned about the possible effects of AI on employment.
