Microsoft will trim its workforce by 10,000 people, or approximately 5% of its total employees, according to a January 18, 2023 SEC filing. The reductions will take place during the company’s fiscal 2023 Q3, which runs to the end of March 2023. The tech giant will take a $1.2 billion charge for fiscal Q2, stemming from severance costs along with changes to its hardware portfolio and lease consolidation.
In a blog post shared with employees, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella cited both the precarious global economy and the rapid changes taking place in the technology arena as reasons for these cuts.
“As we saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we’re now seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less,” wrote Nadella “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. At the same time, the next major wave of computing is being born with advances in AI, as we’re turning the world’s most advanced models into a new computing platform.”
A number of technology and retail companies have announced financial measures designed to weather what could be a tough 2023 economically, including:
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- Amazon secured an $8 billion loan earlier this month and plans to cut approximately 10,000 jobs, according to multiple reports in November 2022;
- In December 2022, H&M announced 1,500 layoffs and DoorDash revealed plans to eliminate 1,250 jobs;
- Gap reportedly eliminated approximately 500 corporate jobs in September 2022; and
- Shopify announced in July 2022 that it would lay off 10% of its staff, or approximately 1,000 employees.
