Microsoft Fires 1% Workforce To Cut Costs: 1800 Employees Fired As Slowdown Hits Tech Industry

After edtech the economic meltdown is grasping its hold on Big Tech and Satya Nadella-run Microsoft, as it has become the first tech giant to lay off employees as part of a ‘realignment’.

Restructuring In Microsoft

Reportedly, these layoffs have affected nearly 1% of its 1,80,000-strong workforce across Microsoft offices and product divisions.

The Tech firm realigned business groups and roles after the close of its fiscal year on June 30. 

Microsoft plans to keep hiring for other roles and finish the current fiscal year with increased headcount.

On Tuesday, Microsoft said, “Today we had a small number of role eliminations. Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly,” in a statement.

Further adding, “We will continue to invest in our business and grow headcount overall in the year ahead,”.

Reduced Hiring

Microsoft said the layoffs were not spurred by the worsening economic picture, but in May it also slowed hiring in the Windows and Office groups.

Besides this, Microsoft has also reduced hiring in the Windows, Teams and Office groups.

Coming to the revenues, Microsoft reported strong earnings in its third quarter, with a 26% jump (on-year) in cloud revenue and overall revenue of $49.4 billion.

Although, the company revised its Q4 revenue and earnings guidance downward last month.

Other technology firms likeTwitter have also cut 30% of its recruiting team.

Similarly, the Elon Musk-run Tesla has been laying off hundreds of employees.

Apart from these there are other tech companies that have slowed hiring such as Nvidia, Snap, Uber, Spotify, Intel and Salesforce, among others.

In a recent development, the Cloud major, Oracle, considered laying off thousands of workers recently to save up to $1 billion in cost-cutting measures, according to the media reports.

When it comes to firing, Google has remained relatively immune to the economic dips of the technology sector. 

Although, it has paused hiring after the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

Since then, it has regularly added waves of new employees for its main advertising business as well as areas such as smartphones, self-driving cars and wearable devices that aren’t yet profitable.