Microsoft offers buyouts to about 60,000 employees as AI costs climb
Roughly 27% of Microsoft's workforce can take a voluntary exit offer while the company pours money into data centers and AI infrastructure.
About 60,000 Microsoft employees have been handed a choice that covers roughly a quarter of the company: take a buyout and leave, or stay while Microsoft remakes itself around AI.
Microsoft's new Voluntary Exit Offer is available to eligible employees in the U.S., Canada, India and the U.K. Workers at the vice president level and below can qualify, though participation varies by team. The company had about 223,000 employees worldwide at the end of June, putting the eligible group at about 27% of its workforce.
Why it matters: This is Microsoft trying to reduce headcount without another companywide round of involuntary layoffs. It cut 4,800 jobs in July, including many in Xbox and commercial sales. A voluntary program gives the company a less blunt tool, though the scale is still hard to miss.
Chief people officer Amy Coleman said the offer gives employees considering a future outside Microsoft “a new choice to make that transition now with support.” She also called the program new for Microsoft and said the company would learn from it. That is corporate language for trying a very large experiment involving people's jobs.
The money behind it: Microsoft is spending heavily to build the data centers and other systems needed for AI computing and cloud services. Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said in July that the company expected to spend $175 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026. CNBC reported that Microsoft expected capital expenditures for the September quarter to exceed $50 billion, up from $34.9 billion in capital spending and finance leases a year earlier.
Some teams are excluded or only partly included. Xbox, Windows, Copilot, finance and human resources are among the participating groups, while some data-center, sales and marketing employees are left out. CNBC reported that workers have until early December to decide, with participating employees expected to leave on Dec. 31.
Not the first offer: Microsoft ran a voluntary retirement program earlier this year for about 8,750 longer-serving employees, and more than 30% of them accepted. This offer covers roughly seven times as many people.
Microsoft reports third-quarter results Wednesday, when the numbers around AI spending and cost control will get another close look.
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