Microsoft announced Tuesday that it will be slashing part of its workforce in the coming months.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the software behemoth will lay off "less than 3%" of its workforce, which amounts to fewer than 6,800 employees. The cuts will be happening in a multitude of divisions worldwide and are the result of a desire to become "more streamlined" and trim managerial roles.
“We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” a Microsoft spokesperson told the WSJ.
As of the end of June 2024, Microsoft had 228,000 employees worldwide. In January, small performance-based layoffs were conducted, but this new round will likely be the company's biggest reduction since getting rid of 10,000 workers in 2023.
According to the Associated Press, 1,985 employees targeted for layoffs are from Microsoft's Redmond, Washington headquarters. All parts of the company's business are reportedly being affected, including LinkedIn and Xbox.
"We continue to focus on building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers,” Microsoft chief financial officer Amy Hood told investors and analysts last month.
On a positive note, in late-April Microsoft announced higher-than-anticipated earnings in the first quarter of 2025, bringing in $70.1 billion in revenue and $25.8 billion in net income, driven by the corporation's Azure cloud business. The company also shared an "upbeat forecast" for the rest of the year.
As far as the layoffs go, Microsoft is far from the only big tech company to be affected by reductions in force this year. Amazon and Meta also held layoffs in January.