Microsoft First Big Tech Firm To Lay Off Employees As Part Of ‘Realignment' Amid Global Slowdown

The layoffs at Microsoft reportedly impact nearly 1 per cent of its 1,80,000-strong workforce across its offices and product divisions

Microsoft has also slowed hiring in the Windows, Teams, and Office groups.

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The economic slowdown has reached Big Tech and Satya Nadella-run Microsoft. Among the big tech giants of the world, Microsoft has become the first tech company to lay off employees as part of a ‘realignment’, the IANS reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the layoffs at Microsoft reportedly impact nearly 1 per cent of its 1,80,000-strong workforce across its offices and product divisions.

Microsoft told Bloomberg in a statement late on Tuesday, “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. We will continue to invest in our business and grow headcount overall in the year ahead.”

Microsoft has also slowed hiring in the Windows, Teams, and Office groups.

The US tech major reported strong earnings in its third quarter, with a 26 per cent jump (year-on-year) in Cloud revenue and overall revenue of $49.4 billion. However, last month, the company revised its Q4 revenue and earnings guidance downward.

Apart from Microsoft, Twitter has also cut 30 per cent of its recruiting team, while Elon Musk-run Tesla has been laying off hundreds of employees. Other tech companies that have slowed hiring include Nvidia, Snap, Uber, Spotify, Intel, and Salesforce, among others.

Cloud major Oracle recently considered laying off thousands of workers to save up to $1 billion in cost-cutting measures, the media reported.

On the other hand, another US tech giant Google said that the company plans to slow hiring for the rest of the year in the wake of a potential economic recession. Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a mail to the employees stated the company will now focus on hiring “engineering, technical, and other critical roles,” in 2022 and 2023.