North American computer group Microsoft announced this Wednesday that it will lay off about 10,000 employees by the end of March, justifying the decision with the economic situation and changing customer priorities.
The reduction equates to just under 5% of the company’s workforce, who will also change their computer equipment and reduce workspace.
These measures will have a US$1.2 billion (approximately €1.1 billion) charge on the second quarter accounts.
Microsoft Executive Chairman Satya Nadella explained this in a letter to employees “customers accelerated IT spending during the pandemic” and now they are trying to optimize them to “do more with less”.
Other major groups in the technology sector have recently announced staff cuts, such as Amazon and Salesforce, which in recent weeks have announced cuts of 18,000 and 8,000 jobs respectively.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, also announced an 11,000 employee reduction plan in November.
Microsoft, which currently has 221,000 employees worldwide, has hired 75,000 since 2019, according to a note from Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who believes these layoffs are no surprise.
Last year, Microsoft had already made two staff cuts, one in July, which the company says affected less than 1% of its workforce, and another in October, with the second affecting fewer than 1,000 employees, according to the “site.” Axios, quoted by AFP.
Source: DN
