Microsoft will cut 10,000 jobs in an effort to cut costs

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Microsoft will lay off 10,000 employees by the end of March, or roughly 5 percent of its workforce, as the company winds down its pandemic hiring spree.

The technology group said in a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that the layoffs were “in response to macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.”

There will also be “changes to our device portfolio, consolidating leases to create higher densities across our workspaces,” Microsoft said. The software giant had 221,000 workers at the end of its last fiscal year, in June 2022.

The actions are expected to result in a fee of $1.2 billion for the fiscal second quarter, which ended in December, or 12 percent of earnings per share.

Microsoft is the latest tech company to cut costs and jobs in response to slowing demand, reversing a period of pandemic-era hiring. The group added 40,000 roles in the year ending June 2022 as it is betting on a long-term increase in demand for digital services that has been caused by the remote working boom.

Earlier this month, Salesforce, which had nearly 80,000 employees at the end of October, announced plans to cut 10 percent of its staff. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp, will also cut about 13 percent of its workforce.

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