According to reports in the media on Tuesday, Microsoft intends to eliminate thousands of positions, some of which are believed to be in the engineering and human resources departments.
The anticipated layoffs would be the most recent in the US IT industry, where firms including Amazon.com and Meta Platforms have announced retrenchment plans in response to sluggish demand and a worsened outlook for the world economy.
The action by Microsoft might be a sign that employment losses in the tech industry will persist.
According to Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff, “from a broad viewpoint, another looming round of layoffs at Microsoft implies the situation is not improving and probably continues to worsen.”
According to reports cited by the UK channel Sky News, Microsoft intends to eliminate 11,000 jobs or around 5% of the staff.
According to a source familiar with the situation, the company plans to make job cuts in several engineering departments on Wednesday. The insider also revealed that Microsoft may reduce its recruiting personnel by up to one-third.
According to the Bloomberg article, the cuts will be significantly greater than in prior rounds. Microsoft declined to comment on the reports.
As of June 30, the corporation employed 221,000 full-time employees, including 122,000 in the US and 99,000 abroad, according to documents.
After the personal computer industry suffered for several quarters, Microsoft is under pressure to keep Azure’s growth rates up. This is because Windows and device sales were negatively impacted.
A few roles had been cut back, it had stated in July of last year. Axios, a news outlet, reported in October that Microsoft has fired less than 1,000 workers from several divisions.
Microsoft’s stock was just a little bit higher in late afternoon trading; the company is scheduled to release its quarterly results on January 24.
