Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 workers

Microsoft said on Monday that it was offering voluntary exits to selected employees across the US, Canada, India and the UK. It said the move was part of its effort to manage the cost of its AI infrastructure build-out while keeping spending efficient.

A person familiar with the matter said about 60,000 people could take part. That figure amounts to roughly 27% of Microsoft’s workforce of 223,000, and the offer was aimed at workers at experience level 70 or below.

The company has been increasing spending on data centres to meet demand for AI computing and to support cloud services for Anthropic, OpenAI and other customers. It also said in the second quarter that it had $19.64 billion in positive free cash flow, down 23% from a year earlier.

Microsoft had already offered a voluntary retirement programme in April, and in July it said it would cut 4,800 jobs. According to the person briefed on the new plan, some marketing, sales and engineering teams have chosen not to join it.

Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief people officer, told employees in a memo that the offer was part of the company’s approach to change and built on what it learned earlier this year. Microsoft said more than 30% of those eligible for the earlier retirement programme took it, and the company plans to report third-quarter results on Wednesday.