Times are hard in the computer industry, as a pandemic boom transitions into a lull in hardware sales. We’ve seen layoffs across the board late last year and continuing into 2023, but perhaps the most visible was just announced by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. According to a post on the company’s official blog, Microsoft will cut a whopping ten thousand jobs this year. Some employees are being notified of their termination today.
That’s a reduction of about 5 percent of Microsoft’s total headcount — small in overall terms, but presumably focused on “tightening the belt” and reallocating resources to the most profitable parts of the company. That’s the impression of the blog post, anyway: we’ll spare you such investor-focused terms as “secular growth and long-term competitiveness.”
According to Nadella, laid-off employees will be notified 60 days in advance and get “above-market severance pay,” six months of medical benefits and stock options. Those are the requirements for US employees, anyway — international Microsoft employees will be treated in accordance “with the employment laws in each country.”
Microsoft follows some of the biggest names in tech in announcing recent layoffs, including Amazon, Meta (Facebook), Cisco, and an especially embattled Twitter.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer
Michael is a former graphic designer who's been building and tweaking desktop computers for longer than he cares to admit. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.