Microsoft Offers Buyouts to 60,000 Staff
Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, more than a quarter of its global workforce, as it seeks to contain costs and help fund its heavy investment in artificial intelligence, the company said on Monday.
Eligible staff come from across the company, including those working in AI experiences, Copilot, finance, human resources, Xbox and Windows + Devices. Marketing, commercial business and security units are excluded, the source said. Microsoft said the offer is open to eligible employees in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States at level 70 and below. It described the programme as time-limited and voluntary, and said it builds on lessons from an earlier voluntary retirement programme. Eligible employees are due to receive details within hours. The report does not give the size of the payout, the deadline or whether Microsoft has a target number of departures.
Chief People Officer Amy Coleman framed the offer as a choice in a memo to staff. “This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support,” she wrote. “It also gives participating organizations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs.”
The move comes as Microsoft, like other technology giants, spends hundreds of billions of dollars on AI data centres and chips, drawing investor scrutiny over whether the returns will justify the cost. It has forecast $175 billion in capital expenditure for calendar 2026 and is due to report first-quarter results after markets close on Wednesday. Microsoft had 223,000 full-time employees as of 30 June 2026, according to its annual filing. Its shares, which have risen about 10 per cent this year, were up about 1 per cent on Monday. Business Insider first reported the programme.
It is the latest in a series of workforce measures this year. Earlier in 2026 Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to about 7 per cent of its US workforce, roughly 9,000 employees. That April programme was the first of its kind in the company’s 51-year history and applied to US employees at senior director level and below whose age and years of service totalled 70 or more. In July, Microsoft announced it would cut 4,800 jobs, about 2.1 per cent of its global workforce, overhauling its Xbox gaming business and divesting up to five studios as it looks to improve returns after years of heavy investment in the division.
