After cutting off 10,000 employees between January and March, Microsoft announced a second wave of layoffs on July 10.
The layoffs were confirmed by the company to GeekWire, which reported the story first, but no other details were provided.
“Organizational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing our business. We will continue to prioritize and invest in strategic growth areas for our future and in support of our customers and partners,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement.
According to a number of LinkedIn posts, the fresh layoffs would mostly affect staff in customer care, support, and sales.
According to a Monday filing with the Washington state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) system, the corporation has 276 layoffs between its Redmond headquarters and Bellevue office in Washington.
The overall number of new layoffs at Microsoft's various sites is unclear.
Microsoft reported 221,000 workers worldwide as of the end of its fiscal year on June 30, including 122,000 in the United States.
While it's not uncommon for a firm to restructure aspects of its operations when a new fiscal year begins, the continued pattern of layoffs in the IT industry has many observers concerned—and perplexed.
When Microsoft announced the 10,000 job cuts in January, it had just recorded a 12% gain in revenue for the last quarter of 2022—and $16.7 billion in profits. In April, the corporation announced a 9% rise in earnings for the first quarter of 2023, totaling $18.3 billion.
A similar pattern may be seen with other major actors in technology.
Despite generating a net profit of $13.6 billion for the fourth quarter of last year, Google's parent firm Alphabet cut 12,000 positions in January following a pandemic-driven hiring binge. It posted a net income of $16.4 billion for the first quarter of this year.
Amazon experienced a 9 percent gain in sales in the last quarter of 2022 compared to the previous year before opting to cut 18,000 workers in January. Sales increased by 9% in the first quarter of this year, resulting in a $3.2 billion net profit.
“40,000 people have been let go by 3 companies that made over $32 billion in profits in 3 months,” data and AI strategist Vin Vashishta commented on LinkedIn.
“At an average annual savings of $300,000 per employee, the layoffs will improve those quarterly profits (without one-time costs): Microsoft by 5 percent, Google by 6.4 percent, Amazon 48.2 percent,” he added.
Microsoft gave its US employees unlimited paid time off (PTO) in January, as well as 10 corporate holidays and days off for illness, mental health, jury duty, and other reasons.
