Microsoft is on a lay-off spree, with its latest plan involving slashing at least four per cent of its global workforce. On Wednesday, the American tech giant announced that it had decided to terminate the services of around 9,000 of its employees from across different streams and levels of experience. Since these lay-offs are being carried out globally, professionals worldwide are bracing for impact.
Microsoft has called these lay-offs a part of its restructuring plan or organisational changes that mandate the company’s positioning in a rapidly-changing marketplace. It’s last large-scale job-cut was announced in January, when it announced cutting one per cent of its staff based on their performance and laid off as many as 6,000 employees, followed by 300 more in June. Back in 2023, it had laid off a massive 10,000-employee workforce.
This time, instead of the usual fiscal year-end, the company has announced the lay-offs on only the second day of the month.
Industry experts are speculating the 50-year-old company’s efforts at reducing its headcounts to making space for coding assistants, the fastest-growing segment this year.
With Google launching its own version, there are reports Microsoft plans to follow suit and adopt automation and AI-backed efficiency in the development of software.
The restructuring process is likely to affect coders the most as AI tools begin replacing traditional tasks. With Meta hiring talent across the world, reportedly investing almost $3 billion on reining in AI researchers, Microsoft’s decision to lay-off a part of its workforce seems well-timed.
Microsoft’s announcement affected its stocks, which were down in Wednesday’s premarket trading.
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