Microsoft has announced plans to lay off over 6,000 employees—approximately three percent of its global workforce.
The tech giant’s home state of Washington will be hardest hit, after the company informed officials it was cutting 1,985 workers tied to its Redmond headquarters.
The move marks the firm’s largest round of job cuts since 2023 when it laid off 10,000 workers, and will impact employees across multiple divisions.
A Microsoft spokesperson did not delve into specifics around the layoffs, saying they regularly adjust their workforce to meet the strategic demands of the business.
We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace.”
Last month Microsoft’s Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said that the firm was focused on “building high-performing teams and increasing agility by reducing layers with fewer managers”.
Hood added that the headcount in March was two percent higher than a year earlier, and down slightly compared with the end of last year.
Microsoft employed 228,000 full-time workers as of last June, the last time it reported its annual employee figures, with about 55 percent of those workers based in the US.
The mass layoffs come just weeks after the company posted strong sales and profits for the January-March quarter, surpassing Wall Street expectations.
In January, they announced plans to invest about $80 billion in 2025 on developing data centres to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications.
- Microsoft Security Layoffs: What Does It Mean for Your UCaaS Solution?
- Microsoft Is Spending $80Bn On Data Centres This Year In Ongoing AI Revolution
Office App Support U-turn
Earlier this year, the company stated its intention to end support for its 365 Apps on Windows 10 by October 2025, saying the decision was a part of a broader push to transition users and businesses to Windows 11.
But in an updated support article published last week, it confirmed the policy reversal.
“To help maintain security while you transition to Windows 11, Microsoft will continue providing security updates for Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 for three years after Windows 10 reaches end of support,” Microsoft said in its support document. “These updates will be delivered through the standard update channels, ending on October 10, 2028.”
Wider Industry Layoffs
Microsoft is not the only big name in tech to announce recent cuts, with Intel, Meta, and Salesforce all slashing numbers in recent months.
Meta revealed it would cut about five percent of its workforce—roughly 3,600 employees—in January, while Salesforce announced it was eliminating more than 1,000 jobs in February.
Earlier this month CrowdStrike’s CEO announced five percent of its workforce would be slashed globally, citing “artificial intelligence efficiencies” created in the business.
