Microsoft layoffs: A timeline of job cuts throughout the software giant's history
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- Microsoft employs some 228,000 workers globally.
- Like other large tech companies, Microsoft has implemented mass layoffs in the past.
- Microsoft's post-pandemic layoffs have primarily hit Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and Azure.
A company doesn't reach the half-century mark without a few rounds of layoffs now and then. Microsoft, founded in 1975, is gigantic in terms of revenues and employees and has been known to fire huge numbers of workers en masse from time to time.
In the 2020s, as the pandemic-prompted tech boom started to fade, many companies began doing mass layoffs.
Microsoft's job cuts have been frequent and often unexpected and severe. However, this follows a historical pattern of layoffs at the company going back many years, so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised.
Has Microsoft engaged in layoffs in the past?
Very much so. In early 2009, as the Great Recession roiled markets and economies all around the globe, Microsoft slashed 1,400 workers on a single January day, simultaneously announcing it would be letting go an additional 3,600 employees over the subsequent 18 months. But that series of layoffs was nothing compared to what would come a half decade later.
In 2014, Microsoft culled 14% of its workforce
Shortly after taking the reins as Microsoft's CEO in February 2014, Satya Nadella initiated a truly seismic round of firings. That year, the company committed to laying off 18,000 employees, both full-time and contract workers, which amounted to a 14% reduction of its global workforce, ending the coveted Microsoft careers of a staggering number of people.
2023 was a tough year for Microsoft employees
In 2023, Microsoft cut hundreds of employees from its own Xbox brand. But that was nothing compared to what would happen around the company. All told, it fired an estimated 10,000 people across myriad divisions, which was about 5% of its total workforce.
2024 saw more layoffs, especially in gaming divisions
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Mere months after completing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft dismissed nearly 2,000 employees of the gaming division in January 2024. Then, in the summer, the company announced plans to cut around 1,500 more employees, largely from its Azure cloud computing division, though ultimately only about 1,000 people were let go.
In mid-September 2024, Microsoft laid off 650 workers from Xbox, pushing the number of employees let go from its gaming arms to nearly 3,000 people for the year.
Microsoft currently employs some 228,000 people worldwide, across all divisions.
Why do companies engage in layoffs?
In the simplest terms possible, layoffs are a cost-cutting measure taken by a company's leadership to save money.
They may result from a broad economic turndown affecting the entire economy or from the failure or termination of a single project or product within the company. They may also result from a change of corporate leadership or a merger or acquisition.
Being laid off is different than being fired for poor work performance (or abuses such as fraud, embezzlement, or stealing corporate secrets) and is not a reflection on the talent or work ethic of those terminated, but it's still a jarring change for those who find themselves out of a job.