Microsoft has announced layoffs across various sectors of its business due to “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.” According to Associated Press News, the company is cutting 10,000 employees, almost five percent of its total workforce, due to “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.” It joins the likes of Amazon and Meta, which have also had thousands of layoffs in recent months.
The layoffs at Microsoft reportedly extend to various developers in its gaming division, including Bethesda Game Studios and 343 Industries, as per Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier. These include employees who had been at Xbox “for more than a decade.” Kotaku reported that The Coalition saw several layoffs as well.
While CEO Satya Nadella says the company will “continue to hire in key strategic areas” and spoke about using artificial intelligence to build a “new computer platform,” some engineering divisions and the HoloLens team have also seen layoffs. The Verge’s Tom Warren reported on Twitter that marketing and Microsoft Edge teams also saw employees fired.
Nadella also spoke of consumers optimizing their digital spending to “do more with less.” “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,” Nadella wrote.
In the meantime, it’s worth remembering that Microsoft purchased Activision-Blizzard for $68.7 billion last year. It’s held up by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority while the United States Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust lawsuit (with no plans to settle).
Microsoft's layoffs today have affected employees in the following divisions:
• HoloLens
• Microsoft Edge
• marketing
• 343 Industries
• Bethesdahttps://t.co/aVeUflxFqt— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) January 18, 2023
