Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., speaks during the virtual Meta Connect event in New York on Oct. 11, 2022.
A Microsoft spokesperson on Monday confirmed that the company let go of additional workers as the software maker’s revenue is expected to slow, thanks to weaker sales of Windows licenses for PCs.
The move aligns with efforts at technology companies big and small to lower costs. Meta Platforms and Salesforce are among those in Silicon Valley that have slowed their pace of hiring this year, even as Coinbase
, Netflix and others have resorted to layoffs.
“Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC. “We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.”
Monday’s announcement comes three months after Microsoft said it trimmed less than 1% of employees.
In July, Microsoft called for about 10% revenue growth in the fiscal first quarter, slower than it’s been in more than five years. The company will be announcing earnings on Oct. 25.
Axios, which reported the layoffs earlier on Monday, said the cuts impacted fewer than 1,000 people and cited an unnamed person.
Why it matters:
The move is yet another example of large tech companies cutting jobs after earlier moving to slow or freeze hiring as the broader economy cools.
Details: Microsoft declined to say how many jobs had been cut, but a source said the layoffs numbered under 1000.
The cuts occurred across a variety of levels, teams and parts of the world.
Multiple laid-off workers turned to Twitter and Blind, among other online forums, to share that their job had been cut.
The big picture:
Nearly all the major tech firms have slowed headcount growth, with many freezing all but essential hires. A number of companies have already moved to cut jobs, including Snap and, as Axios reported yesterday, Flipboard.
Meta, which had already frozen hiring, plans to cut budgets in most divisions, with layoffs expected.
What they’re saying: “Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly. We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead,” Microsoft said in a statement to Axios.
KEY POINTS TO KNOW
- A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the move, which comes three months after the company announced a round of layoffs affecting less than 1% of employees.
- The software maker called for the slowest revenue growth in more than five years in the quarter that ended Sept. 30.