Microsoft to Axe Thousands of Jobs; Sales Team Under Fire This Time

After laying off more than 6,000 employees in May, Windows maker Microsoft Corp. is reportedly planning to cut thousands more jobs. These layoffs are part of the company’s effort to reduce costs while increasing investment in artificial intelligence.

According to a Bloomberg report, Microsoft is expected to announce a new round of job cuts early next month, following the close of its fiscal year. The layoffs are expected to hit its sales teams the hardest, along with some other departments.

Microsoft employed 228,000 people as of June 2024, with around 45,000 working in sales and marketing. The company typically restructures teams and implements organisational changes around the end of its fiscal year, which concludes in June.

This round follows the May layoffs, which affected around 6,000 employees—primarily in product and engineering roles—while largely sparing customer-facing teams such as sales and marketing. The report noted that in April, Microsoft informed employees it planned to outsource more software sales for small and mid-sized businesses to third-party firms.

Earlier in January, the company also let go of a smaller number of employees. These layoffs reflect a broader trend in the global tech industry, where major players like Google and Amazon have also trimmed their workforces. In May, Google cut approximately 200 jobs in its global business unit, mainly affecting sales and partnership teams. Similarly, Amazon laid off around 100 employees from its devices and services division in a separate round.

Microsoft has said it regularly assesses its organisational structure to ensure it is investing in areas aligned with future growth. With tens of billions of dollars being channelled into servers and data centres, the company has assured investors—and cautioned employees—that spending in other areas will be curbed.

Recently, Microsoft announced a $400 million investment in Switzerland to bolster its cloud and AI infrastructure. In January, it also pledged a $3 billion investment in India to build AI capabilities, including the development of new data centres over the next two years.