Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 employees, a quarter of its staff
The offer reaches up to some vice presidents. Employees decide by early December and leave on December 31.
Microsoft has launched a Voluntary Exit Offer. About 60,000 people are eligible, roughly 27% of a workforce that stood at 223,000 on June 30. A source told CNBC the number, and Microsoft later confirmed it.
The offer covers employees at level 70 and below on the internal scale in the US, Canada, the UK and India. That includes general managers and some vice presidents, but not corporate vice presidents. Age, tenure and performance do not matter. Each organization decides whether to take part, and some sales, engineering and corporate teams opted out.
The package matches Microsoft's standard severance: pay based on tenure and level, continued stock vesting, health coverage for a fixed period and career transition help. Employees have until the first week of December to decide, and those who accept leave on December 31. Microsoft gave no target but expects far fewer takers than in the spring.
This spring Microsoft offered its first ever voluntary retirement program to about 8,750 US employees. Around 30% accepted, at a cost of 900 million dollars. In July it cut 4,800 jobs, and in September it let go hundreds more, including at Xbox. CNBC ties the new round to the huge spending on AI data centers and the push to save money elsewhere. Microsoft says the offer does not replace layoffs.
Microsoft reports quarterly earnings this evening, and the cost of the buyouts may show up there. Someone has to pay for the AI build-out, and for now it is the staff.