NEW DELHI: Microsoft employees are facing yet another bout of job cuts, as tech giants continue to pare staf amid persisting challenges to global economy.
This is not the first time that Microsoft is laying off workers across various divisions. Last year too, the company trimmed the number of employees twice.
According to reports by Bloomberg, the computer industry stalwart could announce layoffs in its engineering divisions as early as Wednesday.
A new layoff announcement would come a week before Microsoft is to report its earnings for the final three months of last year.
Following the footsteps
In July and October last year, Microsoft laid off certain workers and paused hiring in various groups.
Other big tech giants like Amazon, Meta Platforms and Salesforce have laid off thousands of workers in the past few months.
Amazon announced in early January that it plans to cut more than 18,000 jobs from its workforce, citing "the uncertain economy" and the fact the online retail behemoth had "hired rapidly" during the pandemic.
The job-slashing plan is the largest among recent layoffs that have impacted the once-unassailable US tech sector, including at giants such as Facebook-owner Meta.
Some of the Amazon layoffs would be in Europe, CEO Andy Jassy in a statement to staff, adding that the impacted workers would be informed starting on Wednesday, January 18.
Major platforms with an advertising-based business model are facing budget cuts from advertisers, who are reducing expenses in the face of inflation.
Meta announced in November the loss of 11,000 jobs, or about 13% of its workforce. At the end of August, Snapchat let go about 20% of its employees, around 1,200 people.
And in early January, IT group Salesforce announced it was laying off around 10% of its employees, or just under 8,000 people
Twitter was bought in October by billionaire Elon Musk, who promptly fired about half of the social media platform's 7,500 employees.
In comparison, Microsoft has been taking smaller steps.
Tech giants have been cautious since the past few months amid worsening global economic outlook and the potential for a protracted slowdown in demand for software and services.
Many divisions to be affected
According to a report by Reuters, Microsoft plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions. Some roles in human resources are also expected to be eliminated.
The report further added that Microsoft plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, or about 11,000 roles.
The cuts will be significantly larger than other rounds in the past year, the Bloomberg report said.
The company had 221,000 full-time employees, including 122,000 in the United States and 99,000 internationally, as of June 30, according to filings.
Microsoft is under pressure to maintain growth rates at its cloud unit Azure, after several quarters of downturn in the personal computer market hurt Windows and devices sales.
(With inputs from agencies)
