Microsoft is laying off about 9,000 workers, or roughly 4% of its global workforce.
“We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace,” the tech giant said in a statement.
Shares in Microsoft finished Wednesday’s trading session down a fraction. They have climbed 17% in 2025 to date.
After more than a decade of expansion and dominion over the stock market, Big Tech was forced to tighten its belt in the period following Covid. Microsoft’s current cuts were preceded by the trimming of 6,000 employees in May.
The arrival of AI in the business world has been reshaping the tech sector, with digital tools replacing certain roles. Computer programming, more than many professions, has been affected by the rise of AI. Microsoft is among the companies that are collectively investing hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure.
The largest tech firms have all been evangelizing about the cost-saving power of AI. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, said the company would “get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company” and, accordingly, the workforce would shrink.
“We continue to focus on building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers,” Microsoft CFO Amy Hood told investors and analysts earlier this year.
Microsoft, more than its tech peers, has made acquisitions its signature. Integrating and optimizing those new operations into the Redmond, WA-based mother ship hasn’t always been a smooth process. The latest cutbacks include considerable de-layering and an emphasis on reducing the number of managers.
Jill Goldsmith contributed to this report.
