Microsoft is set to make some serious job cuts across multiple divisions, reports have claimed..
An anonymous source speaking to Axios (opens in new tab) pegged the figure at around 1,000 jobs, although the company has yet to officially confirm the news just yet.
This isn’t the first report we’ve seen of Microsoft trimming down its employee count in recent months; in July 2022 the software giant confirmed that it cut around 1% of its total headcount.
What’s driving the lay offs?
In response to the news, Microsoft declined to provide reasons for the actions.
“Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly,” it told Axios. “We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.”
Microsoft is set to announce its latest earnings on October 25, and although it remains immensely profitable, this success isn’t being shared equally among different business divisions.
The company’s revenues increased 18% in Q3 2022 while net income jumped 8% year-over-year, to $49.4 billion and $16.7 billion respectively. The company’s cloud division was disproportionally successful and posted a 32% revenue growth to $23.4 billion.
But’s not just Microsoft that is cutting staff, with several other tech giants also following suit.
Salesforce has recently reportedly laid off about 90 employees, its first round of layoffs since 2020.
In addition, companies including Meta, Google, Apple, Twitter, and Amazon have all announced hiring freezes so far in 2022.
The software giant’s shares are down around 30% this year, broadly in line with the rest of the tech-heavy NASDAQ stock index.
