Bad newsMicrosoft Offers Buyouts to 60,000 Employees as Its AI Spending Climbs
Microsoft has offered voluntary exit packages to about 60,000 employees in four countries, roughly 27% of its workforce, weeks after its share price hit a record. It declined to say which teams are excluded.
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Microsoft has offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly 27% of a workforce of about 223,000 at the end of June. The company confirmed the number to CRN, and the Associated Press reports that the offer covers eligible staff in Canada, India, the UK and the US. It follows a voluntary retirement programme and a round of layoffs earlier in 2026.
The offer is open to employees at level 70 or below, according to Ars Technica, and CRN reports, citing Business Insider, that this includes senior leaders. Staff have until December to decide, and those who accept leave on 31 December, CRN reports. Some sales, engineering and corporate teams are not taking part. Microsoft’s chief people officer, Amy Coleman, did not say which ones, and she called the offer new for the company.
Why now
Microsoft has not given a direct reason for the offer, Ars Technica notes. It comes while the company spends heavily on AI infrastructure: CRN says Microsoft expects to spend $175 billion in capital expenditure in 2026. The AP says spending on data centres across the industry is likely to top $700 billion this year, which has made memory chips, processors, equipment and electricity more expensive.
Microsoft’s shares reached an all-time high this month, the AP reports, and rose about 1% after the announcement. Quarterly results are due on Wednesday.
What came before
The sequence matters for the people who now face a decision. Earlier this year Microsoft offered a voluntary retirement package to about 8,750 US staff, or 7% of its US workforce. In July it cut 4,800 jobs, about 2.1% of its global workforce, including many at Xbox, the AP reports. Ars Technica reports that about 30% of those eligible took the retirement offer, which reduced the layoffs needed.
Ars Technica also notes that Coleman told GeekWire in July that voluntary exits could become a regular part of workforce management. Eligible employees may therefore have to decide whether to take a package now or stay and risk future company-wide layoffs; that framing is Ars Technica’s, not Microsoft’s. No source says how many employees will accept, or what the packages are worth, beyond the company’s description of financial support and career-planning resources.
