Microsoft to Lay Off 10,000 Employees - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 18 January 2023 / 3,729 Views
Microsoft announced it plans to lay off 10,000 employees, which is a bit under five percent of its 220,000 workforce. The layoffs will take place by the end of its current fiscal quarter that ends on March 31, 2023.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated customers increased their spending during the pandemic, however, they are now seeing a reduction in spending from customers.
With the layoffs Microsoft will take a $1.2 billion charge related to severance costs, changes to the hardware portfolio, and the cost of lease consolidation.
This is the second biggest lay off in Microsoft history, only behind 18,000 employees laid off in 2014 with the majority being former Nokia workers.
Sources have told The Verge the layoffs at Microsoft affect employees working on HoloLens and Microsoft Edge, as well as the marketing teams, 343 Industries, and Bethesda.
Read the full message from Nadella below:
We’re living through times of significant change, and as I meet with customers and partners, a few things are clear. First, as we saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we’re now seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less. We’re also seeing organizations in every industry and geography exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one. At the same time, the next major wave of computing is being born with advances in AI, as we’re turning the world’s most advanced models into a new computing platform.
This is the context in which we as a company must strive to deliver results on an ongoing basis, while investing in our long-term opportunity. I’m confident that Microsoft will emerge from this stronger and more competitive, but it requires us to take actions grounded in three priorities.
First, we will align our cost structure with our revenue and where we see customer demand. Today, we are making changes that will result in the reduction of our overall workforce by 10,000 jobs through the end of FY23 Q3. This represents less than 5 percent of our total employee base, with some notifications happening today. It’s important to note that while we are eliminating roles in some areas, we will continue to hire in key strategic areas. We know this is a challenging time for each person impacted. The senior leadership team and I are committed that as we go through this process, we will do so in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible.
Second, we will continue to invest in strategic areas for our future, meaning we are allocating both our capital and talent to areas of secular growth and long-term competitiveness for the company, while divesting in other areas. These are the kinds of hard choices we have made throughout our 47-year history to remain a consequential company in this industry that is unforgiving to anyone who doesn’t adapt to platform shifts. As such, we are taking a $1.2 billion charge in Q2 related to severance costs, changes to our hardware portfolio, and the cost of lease consolidation as we create higher density across our workspaces.
And third, we will treat our people with dignity and respect, and act transparently. These decisions are difficult, but necessary. They are especially difficult because they impact people and people’s lives – our colleagues and friends. We are committed to ensuring all those whose roles are eliminated have our full support during these transitions. U.S.-benefit-eligible employees will receive a variety of benefits, including above-market severance pay, continuing healthcare coverage for six months, continued vesting of stock awards for six months, career transition services, and 60 days’ notice prior to termination, regardless of whether such notice is legally required. Benefits for employees outside the U.S. will align with the employment laws in each country.
When I think about this moment in time, the start of 2023, it’s showtime – for our industry and for Microsoft. As a company, our success must be aligned to the world’s success. That means every one of us and every team across the company must raise the bar and perform better than the competition to deliver meaningful innovation that customers, communities, and countries can truly benefit from. If we deliver on this, we will emerge stronger and thrive long into the future; it’s as simple as that.
I want to extend my deepest thanks and gratitude to everyone who has contributed to Microsoft up to this point and to all of you who will continue to contribute as we chart our path ahead. Thank you for the focus, dedication, and resilience you demonstrate for Microsoft and our customers and partners each day.
Satya
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Hopefully all those laid off bounce back on their feet quickly. I'm wondering if MS missed their profit target, so this is their way to appease their shareholder Gods. Either way, it's super shitty.
107 billion cash on hand, gotta get that stock price ticking up a few percentage points.
Doesn't Microsoft also pay a pittance in dividends too despite average R&D costs? Looks like they're all about acquisitions.
So just market consolidation and no one is happy in the whole thing.
Trying to purchase a company for 69B with thousands of employees and they're laying off 10k of their own? MS is a fucking joke.
Yeah, it sucks, but Amazon is next with 18,000 expected layoffs. It’s the entire tech industry. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start hearing other major tech companies having mass layoffs.
You are acting like MS is the only tech company that laid off that many people recently Facebook and Amazon say hello. I get it you hate Microsoft you are the second person I am going to have say this to recently let it go its getting old.
Have you checked the Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and other major tech companies being reported on VGC and if he was pissed of those companies expending 69B on an acquisition while firing 10k people or you are just complaining of him because it is against MS?
That was my thoughts on the matter, MS is letting go 10k of their own employee's while trying to purchase the 9800 employees of Activision Blizzard at the same time to get games that are already on their platform to begin with. Amazon and others are laying off employees too I get it but they are not trying to negotiate a 69B deal at the same time. Xbox teams such as 343, Coalition, Bethesda are all affected today and some of those people have been there 10+ years. I keep hearing about how MS is the best company to work for that now gives unlimited time off. It's not a good look at all today regardless if some users here take issue with me saying it or not.
They're not purchasing employees. They're purchasing a company. Yes, they care about the employees. But, a lot of it is about the IP and the existing player base.
But when I say they were buying mostly for the IP and userbase I was attacked with "MS is paying mostly for the people". So the tune changed?
You dont even know who the staff are that are losing their jobs. Its a clean out, not a random sacking.
Going to use the same excuses of the 1k fired previously? Projects closed, low performance, etc but now 10x higher?
Please enlightened me with these previous events
couple months ago MS had fired 1k people, and those were the excuses used.
They have also hired 40k+ staff in that same time frame.
The hiring and removing of staff has nothing to do with acquisitions. Completely different fields.
The people being dismissed who work in the market teams at Bethesda would disagree, those job losses are tied to the Bethesda acquisition.
Whats removing staff got to do with buying ABK?
These companies always do clean outs. Its literally nothing new yet we continue to act as if these companies arent buisnesses. Out with the old, in with the new. Don't preform, dont get offered new contracts. There are many layers to this. Its sounds big because we are talking about a mega corp with hundards of thousands of staff.
I sacked someone after xmas, didnt need them, small team of 5 is a 25% staff turnaround.
You see how silly all this sounds.
My reply was to counter your assertion that the removal of staff had nothing to do with the acquisition by pointing out that some of those cuts the ones involving Bethesda marketing were in fact a direct result of the acquisition .
And i will continue to point out that these layoffs would have happened regardless of ABK. Google just trimmed 12k staff and they arent buying a huge studio. Again, different fields.
Sure we know that. But if you don't few bad for 10k people losing job while they have money to burn.
Isn't MS raising XB prices also?
All this to be able to say, we have new, yet proven exclusives?
No they are not raising the prices of the consoles. Just the nextgen only games. Something Sony and other companys have been doing since the start of the gen.
So they are raising XB pricing then. Why, if they have so much money in the bank on top of profits? Why, let go of 10,000 employees only to replace them with 10,000 more due to a $70 billion purchase?
Is Sony spending that kind of money due to their infinite cash on hand? Is Sony doing massive layoffs?
You should state "XB Game Prices" XB pricing makes it sound like its the consoles price.
Not all the 10,000 people that got fired where working in game development. We dont even know how many of that 10,000 only joined in 2021-2022 when MS hired 40,000 staff. So far it seems like the biggest hit in the game dev department has been with 343i. Lets say 200 of the staff is from the gaming department and the other 9,800 is from companys like holo lens ms edge, marketing teams for them companys who where hired between 2021-2022. Maybe Ms doesnt see any need for them anymore. Sony also doesnt have the amount of staff that MS has as a whole. How many of that 10,000 people work on the xbox side of things?. It was only last year when Sony let go of 60 devs with something like a 2 week notice. Who is to say they wont let more go?. Like i said going by twitter so far it seems like most of the lay offs on the xbox side have been from 343i. But yes you and the other Sony guys in here keep saying its about activision all you want this has nothing to do with it. the tech industry and many more as a whole are having massive layoffs atm.
Im sure if Sony was as big and had as many staff as Ms as a whole you would be seeing the same kind of layoffs you are seeing from MS,Amazon etc. But they dont and if Sony did lay off this amount of staff it would be much higher then 5% of their total staff as they dont have as many people working for them. If a company has 100 people working for them and lay off 50 thats would be 50% of their total staff. This sounds like a huge number since Ms has so many people working for them in all different divisions. and like i said we also dont know the exact number thats been laid off from the xbox side of things, it could be very small, maybe even the same amount Sony laid off from their gaming it could be more but it sure as hell isnt 10,000 of them.
If Sony were as big as MS, they very well would've kept the PS5 pricing down longer, and might have been acquiring AB instead of MS, while MS buys EA instead to counter.
Which I'm sure would've also just been viewed as business as usual as per XB fans and not anti consumer, monopolistic bad Sony..
In fact, Sony would be hero's saving AB and it's toxic culture, right?
Right?
Except no. As Sony would of made all AB games exclusive to playstation including their big ones like CoD etc. They also would of took them games away from PC or made PC gamers wait a year or 2 before they got them. Ms on the other hand are still giving the games to Sony, they are even going to put CoD back on Nintendo. Something Sony would of never done. You cant say Sony would of kept the price of the PS5 down as this is just a guess on your part.
Most likely they still would of done what they have done and owning ABK would of made them even bigger allowing them to.
That's what XB fans said about Sony right before they bought Bungie and how did that turn out as to exclusivity?
It's also been said by many XB fans that if MS wants to make AB games exclusive that's fine because they will own it and paid a ton for it., plus XB needs more exclusives anyway.
MS didn't wait to put XB games on PC, so if PS were bigger and richer like MS then Sony very well would've been on PC even sooner.
It was all a guess just like how you replied, yet not a guess that was absurd by any means.
XB has been supporting the PC platform and other platforms with games like Minecraft etc for years. Only reason why Sony is allowing Bungie to keep their games multiplat is that was what bungie asked for before they sold and they need them extra platfporms to support their GaaS model. I bet you if bungie ever makes a single player game it will be exclusive to playstation. I also know that CoD is bigger then Destiny and i know Sony just like with all their other studios would lock it down if they where paying this much for them or if they did allow some games like the multi player portion of CoD to be multiplat they would still make sure they have exclusive content before the rest. We have Sonys History to show us this. And what do you mean Ms didnt want to put games on PC?. Clearly they did and went all in while Sony was the ones who where against it and still only release their games after the console release. Sony was also the ones against cross play and many other consumer benefits where as MS has been embracing them. And no 100% just like with game prices Sony would also of raised their console price when they planned to. Now here is a guess for you. I bet if Sony was bigger and got Activision putting them much closer to a monopoly in the video game market then this deal would do with Ms they would be charging €80-90 for their games. See we can all guess how things could play of played out.
That's some wild speculation right there.
MS makes Windows, so PC games isn't some bold move by them and I never said MS didn't want to put games on PC.
Sony started cross play back during PS3, and MS told Sony to get bent and take a hike because the 360 didn't need that.
Didn't Bungie want independence and freedom, where MS told them to shut up and get back to making Halo, so Bungie got the heck out of there? Seems like things haven't changed much either.
Maybe Sony wouldn't have bought AB or EA or anyone large, and would've bought much smaller devs like they always do and then built them up from there.
Something MS can't seem to do. Instead XB tears down and attempts to rebuild.
Just because a company is rich does not mean they have to keep unnecessary staff on the books.
Then they shouldn't need to keep pricing that low either, but if they don't, they're called greedy corporate anti consumer sleazeballs.
Completely unrelated.
Also i hope you like to know that since 2008-2022 Sony went from having 187.5k staff down to having 108.9k staff. Every single year since 2008 they have pretty much been firing people.https://www.statista.com/statistics/638777/sony-group-number-of-employees/
How does that make you feel for the almost 80,000 staff that have lost their jobs at Sony?.
On the other hand Ms has grew since 2008-2022 from having 91K staff to having 221k staff.https://www.statista.com/statistics/273475/number-of-employees-at-the-microsoft-corporation-since-2005/
Put that into prospective for a minute. I think all you Sony fans should think about that for a minute. Every single year Sony has been letting staff go well Ms was growing their staff.
Apparently as long as it wasn't PS gaming employee's, or only a small number of them, then that would've been ok, apparently.
Even more ok if Sony was spending billions on new acquisitions.
Doesn't make me feel any way. I'm not someone who thinks Sony is perfect and can do no wrong. Unlike those who think MS is everyone's friend who just wishes they could give more away, like their cherished employee's.
We dont know what staff it was. No one says its ok but you cant expect Sony, just like Ms to keep on staff that they no longer need. They are both company's who is out to make profit. Sure in our eyes it might not be ok. but for Sony gamers to be virtue signaling about Ms laying off 10, 000 staff when they added over 100,000 staff in the same time Sony cut almost 80,000 staff that they seem to ignore is just sad.
Articles over somewhat recent years show Sony laying off 35 here, 90 there. Is that considered massive by XB fans? Your numbers would seem to look outdated.
Where did the 1000 Bungie employees go that Sony added? Maybe they're in the Destiny void?
Was Sony making (tens of) billions in profit during those 2008 and later layoffs?
Since PS has been such a large portion of the company and so important, we all know how poorly things were going for them after 2006.
Laying off because your profits are hurting severely or are negative is one thing, but laying off when you're still making huge profits like MS while also jacking up pricing is what some would call extremely sleazy.
Last time Sony let staff go last year they only gave them two weeks notice i think it was 60 staff just last year. Also the site isnt out dated. Its from 2006-2022, So maybe bungie isnt added yet. Was Sony hurting from 2014 up to 2022 when they let over around 40,000 staff go?. the is no difference in emptying a bucket of water in drips so no one really notices or cares and dropping a whole load at once. Both are still the same thing when you get to the bottom of the bucket. Anyway no point going over this with you anymore. Its clear you dont care about the staff thats being let go heck your prop laughing inside as you feel this gives you a chance to take digs at MS while ignoring the bigger picture and the amount of staff thats currently being let go from all sectors of the economy. But you do you....
2 weeks notice is normal.
It was made fairly clear to me that as long as it's mostly non gaming related staff then it doesn't really matter, apparently. Maybe that only applies to MS though.
Care to point out where it was said it didnt matter?. Like twisting words much?.
Its higher up in the conversation where you said,
"Not all the 10,000 people that got fired where working in game development. So far it seems like the biggest hit in the game dev department has been with 343i. Lets say 200 of the staff is from the gaming department and the other 9,800 is from companys like holo lens ms edge."
and below that in another reply,
"We dont know what staff it was."
If all employees mattered, then why mention gaming staff mostly weren't impacted by this?
This is a gaming forum, No point trying to twist words, I was just pointing out the fact the whole 10,000 staff isnt from the xbox side of things. No where did i say it didnt matter. But clearly the 80,000 staff Sony has let go or the 40,000 since the PS4 gen doesnt seem to matter to you like you stated.
If its a dedicated gaming forum that only cares about gaming, why mention any of the laid off staff that are non gaming related? What are all the non gaming related forums for?
Again, I'm not trying to defend Sony. I don't think Sony is my best friend who can do no wrong.
Those who seem to think that about MS don't look to be able to make up their minds if people are important or not, or who's more important than others.
Their you go twisting words again. Where did anyone say they wasnt important?, when you can point this out to me let me know. No one said it didnt suck that so many people got fired just like it sucks when Sony or any other company does it. But you cant expect companys to keep on staff that could be under performing or that they dont have a need for. Besides unlike other companys Ms have giving the people they let go a pretty big pay check to keep them going for 6 months while they find a new job with included health care. Compare that to when Twitter does it or even Sony. And for someone who doesnt think Sony is your best friend you sure as hell are in a lot of topics defending them and twisting peoples words and downplaying when Sony does shitty things.
I'm defending Sony in MS related articles or threads? What's Sony or even Twitter got to do with MS?
Elon wasn't happy with many of the employees and how they were impacting the company, so he got rid of them. Most are saying that's just how he rolls because he's an efficient heartless person.
Is MS heartless who doesn't care?
What about games or devs that don't quite perform up to expectations? Just get rid of them all?
AB isn't exactly living up to expectations right now, so why does MS want to bring that toxicity on board?
MS doesn't have to let those employees go, just like they don't have to buy AB, yet they're buying AB, and firing all these people.
All someone has to do is look at your history to see how much you defend Sony. i point out how Its not only Ms but other tech thats doing this atm including Sony who from 20014 to 2022 has fired pretty much 40,000 staff much higher then Ms has in the same amount of time and you get all worked up trying to twist my words instead of just agreeing its wrong for both companies but we dont know the reasons for them letting staff go.
Unlike Elon Ms isnt heartless as unlike them other big tech companies and Sony when they let their staff go Ms are giving the ones they let go receive a variety of benefits, including above-market severance pay, continuing healthcare coverage for six months, continued vesting of stock awards for six months, career transition services. So no i wouldnt call that heartless.
And yes if a game dev isnt performing up to standard why would a company keep them on?. Would you if you where running a software company and a few devs are holding everyone else back by not performing as expected?.
Its not the devs at ABK thats the problem its the upper management and they will all be getting the boot once MS takes over.
How do you know they dont have to let them go? where you talking to each of them to see why MS is letting them go?. Why did Sony have to let 40,000 staff go from 2014 to 2022 and have done every year?, going by what you say Sony doesnt have to let them go they are a billion dolar company they should be well able to keep them on even if they are doing nothing in the company anymore and are under performing Sony should still keep them on and pay them...
I've never sided with anyone other than Sony? Does Sony deserve any defending?
Who says those MS employees are happy with their layoff packages? Maybe they'd simply rather be working, even if they had to take a cut.
If I had that much cash on hand and that much profit still coming in, then yes I would keep them on and get them doing something useful.
So no second chances for devs? Have a bad game and you're done? Sounds pretty heartless to me.
I know they don't have to because they could easily afford to keep them on. It's not about MS running out of money, it's about making even more.
Back then Sony was in really tough shape, like worrying about potential bankruptcy bad. What good was a job at Sony if the company folded?
And that MS was against and posed as virtue signaling.
Care to explain where MS was against it and virtue signaling?. As that really feels like what most Sony gamers are doing in this thread well ignoring how many staff Sony has let go year on year. I wonder how many more will they let go this year?.
Its not about feeling bad Don. Its a buisness. The number one priority for any buisness is Buisness first. MS is not a charity.
Except if you charge more for games or hardware, etc, that's corporate greed. At least until the other guys follow suit, then it's just regular business.
From what i remember most Xbox gamers was against Ms raising the price of games. But since Sony gamers where all about inflation etc they have no other choice but to accept it. Me on the other hand being a PC gamer is still against any company charging 70 for games and will not buy them day 1 as to be it is greed on both Sony and now Ms part.
There is a huge difference between wanting everything for free, and understanding that everything has a price based on business and economics.
As others have said here, MS and XB is not a charity. Neither is Sony and PS.
No point in trying to change my original point. You tried stating pretty much that Ms fans where giving Sony backlash for raising the prices and are now ok with it after Ms is now planning on doing it. I pointed out thats not the case and most Xbox fans where still against Ms doing it making them consistent with their complaint about raising prices and that it wasnt just about Sony like you tried making out in your original post i was replying to. And like i said i will never pay €70 or €80 as thats what most of them meant to be €70 games over here in Ireland cost and would sooner wait.
My original point isn't about the prices. It's about the core mindset that MS are the pro consumer guys who care so much, and how Sony are the anti consumer sleazeballs, apparently.
MS has all the money in the world and decided laying off people was better than losing a little bit of profit or finding something else useful for them to do.
It's no wonder they're raising XB pricing now. Why just save money with layoffs when you can charge your customers even more on top? All because MS needs to make up for a $70 billion purchase that they didn't have to make.
Sure, for the corporation they will do what is best for them, and you as customer and employee should be supporting the corporate making more money or the people that will be out of a job?
Its not my job to care. Thats why charities exist. Losing 5% will open the doors for new employees down the road. Majority are the bottom 5% of unnecessary staff. Its not just a random selection of staff losing their jobs.
Makes you think if they are going to backtrack on the purchase
Nope, they will likely double down on saying how good it will be for the ABK employees to be fired after the purchase =p
I think Microsoft is in a really good spot right now as far as the ABK purchase. Obviously they want the company. But, if it does get blocked, I don't think that's going to bother them much either. Certainly ABK is not worth today what they are paying for it. Considering how tech stocks and the gaming industry have behaved in the last several months, it's likely that if they made an offer for ABK today it would be a good bit lower.
Quite possible. And ABK deal not closing wouldn't impact much since they would still receive the content, at most they would have to change the negotiation to have the CoD on GP and King games launching on their store for smartphones or things like that and perhaps use part of the money to buy support teams or smaller devs to keep their growth strategy.
"Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated customers increased their spending during the pandemic, however, they are now seeing a reduction in spending from customers."
So, back to normal levels?
A company which made $83billion profit in 2022 deciding to axe 10,000 of its workforce is ridiculous. what a joke. Thanks guys for helping during the pandemic, but now things are slowing (but still growing) we don't need you. Even if each cost $1million (which they most certainly don't) would only add up to $10billion so would hardly dent their income.
Oh and we are going to spend $10billion on an AI bot, and $67billion on video games.....
I understand that Infinite likely isn't making the money needed to justify 343's headcount. That seems obvious. I'd be interested to know where the Bethesda cuts will come from though.
Probably all those still working on fallout 76. Hopefully elder scrolls doesn't get affected
So they are fighting for the right to spend 70 billion to buy out a company.. while firing 10K people (including X numbers of people from their last purchase). Yeah that's a look.
Rip 10k people that got fired. And rip the many many more that will follow with their next purchase.
RIP? They're getting laid off, not euthanized.
Indeed. I wonder how he will feel If/when Sony starts laying off people. The whole tech industry is doing lay offs atm. Wonder how come he has nothing to say about amazon etc.
Sad for the people getting laid off but to dramatize it like Bandorr has done here fuming console war nonsense and acting like most of the tech industry isnt doing this right now with more companys to follow is also sad on the people who are getting fired that some fans using them just for console war nonsense.
Sony isn't sitted on over 100B in cash nor is buying a company for 70B, guess MS have a little more breath room.
But yes let just attack anyone not siding with MS on firing 10k people.
No one is siding with MS for firing the 10k people. But when clear Sony fans are using it to take jabs instead of being worried for the rest of the people (Maybe even some from their own fav company) and the more to come from many more companys in the tech industry is where my problem is. Feel bad for the people thats laid off thats ok but no point in using it to take sly jabs like most Sony fans in this article have been doing.
If you find these so called fans of Sony defending the massive firing in other companies you point them for us.
Where did i say i seen them Sony gamers defending them?. I said they act like its only Ms doing this when its the whole tech industry atm. Sony also isnt new to firing people as they have been doing it every year since 2008 and from then to now has axed almost 80,000 jobs but i dont see a peep out of Sony gamers about that.
Yes Sony isn't new on firing people when they were nearly bankrupt and restructuring with people in VGC celebrating they were going wrong, MS is firing because they aren't profiting as much as they wanted not the same situation, don't do false equivalencies. And again Sony wasn't buying a company for 70B dollar at the same time.
I think you are the one who shouldnt be doing false equivalencies. If you think Sony wasnt making profit in 2008 ok how about 2014? from then till now they have still let go of almost 40,000 staff. Was Sony not profitable by then?. I mean they sure was able to spend lots of money on 3rd party deals and exclusives and buy devs.. every single year up till now sony has been letting people go. I wonder how many they will let go this year?. Oh right i guess its ok for Sony and no one else in the tech industry as Sony isnt making profit while buying them 3rd party exclusive deals and games and devs and publisher in bungie....
That will also suck if/when Sony starts laying off people.
Bandorr didn't bring up console war nonsense.
Really? i dont think we are reading the same thing then. "Rip 10k people that got fired. And rip the many many more that will follow with their next purchase." First the people are not dead so why the RIP?. Also how can he say that this is anything to do with MS spending 70b to buy a company and then give RIP to more staff getting laid off if they buy another?. Looks like console war nonsense to me, and is also in line with what most Sony fans in this article are saying to try turn this bad thing into a jab at MS and acting as if this thing isnt happening all over the tech industry atm. Clearly this is not good for the staff atm but if they a worth it im sure they will get work again. But to be using it just to take sly jabs is also bad imo.
When you read how they shift money around to limit tax liabilities you can't help but loath the company. Yes they are not alone in doing this - all the tech companies do - but when these companies decide to get rid of people it's a perfect example of capitalism gone wrong. Article is from 2021 but its unlikely they
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/03/microsoft-irish-subsidiary-paid-zero-corporate-tax-on-220bn-profit-last-year
damn, that's a lot. hope they can find employment again in good time
It's all about the money with Microsoft greedy bastards
Isnt this how pretty much all companies work?. Unless you think its not all about Money for them other companies?
Acquisition deals need to be paid ;-)
This freaking sucks! So were these 10,000 employees hired during the pandemic or something to help with the increase in consumer spending and now that it’s back to normal levels they’re not needed. Crap like this is why I would rather MS not be going through these major purchases right now and focus within.
$1.2 billion in severances for 10,000 employees is nice to help them till they find new employment, but you always hate seeing this.
A lot of tech giants just made unsustainable hiring during pandemic while missing planning of the real need long term. Because if they really though they would need those new employees for a short time during a sudden spike of demand they would have done temporary contracts.
People are simply numbers like profits to big corporations. They go up, they go down, business as usual.
We also live in a world where heaven forbid you get asked to do more work for a time (for more pay). Straight to Twitter with that kind of suggestion. Just hire more people and then fire them because 5 days is way too much already. Just don't fire me.
Can't argue with that. When you're a multi-millionaire CEO with a staff nearing a quarter of a million people, it must become a game of moving pieces around a chessboard for you at some point.
It's hard for me to comprehend... I'm a small business owner who has a staff of 15, and I work in the trenches with them so I know each of them well. But that can't be what it's like at the scale of a company like Microsoft, unfortunately.
One detail that's been lost in a lot of this discussion is that Microsoft instituted a hiring freeze for a while prior to these layoffs, so they made an effort to avoid them through attrition. But not enough people wanted to leave, apparently.
And that is fine, and sure it is better to stop hiring instead of having to fire even more people, I would say the biggest issue comes on the level of firing people to save money while they have plenty in stock and is even using it to buy another company (that they say they need for more workforce) and higher ups trying to be empathetic while cutting those people instead of cutting their own wages or even reduced bonus accross the board.
In fairness, did they specifically cite needing more workers as the reason to buy ABK? They've talked about their franchises a lot, but their workers less. I don't doubt they want the development teams too, but that doesn't mean they won't identify "redundancies".
That said, they're still immensely profitable and could easily have continued to hold the line on hiring and let attrition (plus letting go some people who were deemed to be under-performing). But unfortunately, they have a legal responsibility to maximize shareholder value. That's the lame thing about publicly-traded companies.
All your points are very fair.
I don't remember they talking about manpower being the reason to buy or buildings (but sure that is part of the value they paid), and yes for sure after the purchase they would probably eliminate some redundancies (although since they want to keep growing their game division I would use those redundancies to open new studios).
And you are right MS could hold them forever if they wanted, but as you said they can't because they really have to deliver their promise to the shareholders. That is why my biggest issue is usually with disingenuous PR talk (that sure I also know that is part of the obligation of the company to talk any issue in the best possible light).
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That it is even better making it big so MS will have more money to buy other studios in the future =p
What about amazon
What about facebook
Others do it too
They are still alive , they are not dead
Damn son
sick to my stomach.
"Microsoft laying off 10,000 employees" and "Microsoft to buy Activision-blizzard for 68 billion dollars" Should not be two headlines that exist in the same timeline.
Sad to hear, and that will also affect gaming, would rather they use their warchest to keep these people employeed until they make the changes they need to better use them.
So you would hold onto employees just because you feel sorry for them?
If there is perspective of growth in the next 1-2 years with possibility of using that talent yes for sure. As I said in the other report on the 1k people fired, they didn't suddenly discover 1k bad performance in a single day. But now you want us to pretend these were 10k bad employees discovered at the same time some who have been lurking for over 10 years, sure.
The employees that are let go are not needed anymore. Companies always work from the bottom up when they do clean outs. Performing or not, if you sit in the bottom %, you are more likely removed if a clean out was to happen.
This whole situation blows.
Its sad to see however keep in mind that this is a buisness and they do massive clean outs all the time. The 5% would also be including under performers and list cloggers. This creates newer opportunities for new employees for their next big hiring spree.
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