Microsoft cutting 6,000 employees in second-biggest layoffs ever; no word yet if Singapore staff affected
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Tech giant Microsoft has been under pressure to keep a lid on costs amid massive spending on AI and cloud-computing.
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NEW YORK – Microsoft said it will cut 6,000 workers across the company in an effort to reduce management layers.
The planned terminations will amount to less than 3 per cent of total headcount and occur across geographies, employee levels and include LinkedIn, a spokesperson said. “We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” the spokesperson said.
The job cuts represent Microsoft’s largest reduction since eliminating 10,000 roles in 2023.
Unlike January’s smaller performance-based cuts, the company indicated that these layoffs are structural in nature. Microsoft, which employed 228,000 people in June 2024, deploys periodic layoffs, often to reorient its headcount towards priority areas.
About 2,000 workers will be impacted at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, according to a state filing on May 13. The terminations are expected to commence on July 13.
In response to The Straits Times’ queries, a spokesperson for Microsoft declined to reveal if its employees in Singapore are affected by the job cuts, but said it will minimise redundancy by streamlining its processes, procedures and roles.
Microsoft has been under pressure in recent years to keep a lid on costs amid massive spending on the data centres that power artificial intelligence (AI) services and the Azure cloud-computing unit. Microsoft has said it is on track to spend about US$80 billion (S$104 billion) this fiscal year on the server farms.
In 2024, chief executive Satya Nadella said AI was helping the company save on labour costs. The theme came up again on May 13 during a JPMorgan conference, when Microsoft finance executive Bill Duff said the company is “saving hundreds of millions of dollars a year” by using AI for customer support and reducing the need for human interaction.
Mr Duff said Microsoft is deploying AI across multiple divisions to help personnel analyse deals for compliance issues, write marketing materials and other tasks.
The company routinely reorients its workforce away from legacy products and towards growth initiatives, Mr Duff said.
Late in April, Microsoft told workers it is planning to use third-party firms to handle more sales of software to small and mid-sized customers. It also restructured some technical teams earlier in April.
Several other tech companies have also announced layoffs in 2025. Meta Platforms said in January that it planned to axe about 5 per cent of staff via performance-based terminations and would hire new people to fill those roles.
In February, Bloomberg reported that Salesforce was cutting more than 1,000 positions, in large part to make room for new AI-focused positions. BLOOMBERG
