Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 employees

Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to up to 60,000 employees across the US, UK, Canada, and India. In a message to employees, chief people officer Amy Coleman said the program gives staff "the opportunity to leave Microsoft with financial support and career planning resources" as the company seeks to trim staff without another round of layoffs. Sources tell The Verge that employees across Microsoft are eligible, including those in AI experiences, Copilot, CoreAI, Windows + Devices, Xbox, finance, and human resources, while cloud + AI, MicrosoftAI, and corporate, external, and legal affairs are partially participating; marketing, commercial business, discovery and quantum, and security teams are not participating. The offers follow layoffs of 4,800 employees months earlier, which mainly hit Xbox and commercial sales teams, and a report that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is planning further layoffs. This program differs from an earlier voluntary retirement offer available to roughly 9,000 long-serving US employees whose age plus years of service totaled 70 or more. Coleman called the Voluntary Exit Offer new for the company and said Microsoft will learn from it while continuing to help employees focus on priority work, build skills, and find new opportunities internally.

(Source：The Verge)