Microsoft’s overall headcount will not change much as it will soon fill the vacant positions, said the company’s spokesperson
Microsoft has planned to trim its workforce by less than 1 per cent in the year 2025. The tech giant’s move is a part of its strategy to enhance performance management and chop off nearly 2,000 underperforming employees. The job cuts are not specific to any department and are likely to have an impact on various positions, including the senior staff, according to Business Insider.
“At Microsoft, we focus on high-performance talent. We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take appropriate action,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC.
The company’s overall headcount will not change much as it will soon fill the vacant positions, the spokesperson added.
This isn’t the first time that the global tech giant has reduced its workforce and rendered many jobless. In January 2024, the Satya Nadella-headed giant acquired a video game company Activision Blizzard, and as a part of its restructuring move laid off around 1,900 workers from its gaming unit.
Prior to this, in the year 2023, the company slashed nearly 3 per cent of its workforce and left 20,000 workers jobless.
“Talent changes are a difficult, but necessary and regular part of managing our business,” Microsoft had said in a LinkedIn post.
The move comes as the company is eyeing expansion in advanced technologies like artificial intelligence. Earlier, Reuters reported that the tech giant announced to increase its offerings under its flagship AI product, Microsoft 365 Copilot, mainly to reduce its dependence on Sam Altman’s OpenAI.
The revenue of Microsoft in the first quarter of the financial year 2024 was up by 16 per cent to $65.6 billion compared to the same period in FY24.
“AI-driven transformation is changing work, work artifacts, and workflow across every role, function, and business process,” said Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella in the earnings call on October 30, 2024.
Satya Nadella, in his recent visit to India announced his plans to invest $3 billion in India’s cloud and AI infrastructure over the upcoming two years. Additionally, plans to train 10 million Indians with AI skills over the next five years.