Microsoft to fire more employees, to be the biggest layoff

Microsoft is reportedly planning another round of job cuts. This time, it is reportedly targeting its Xbox division, as part of a broader effort to reorganise the company before the end of its financial year. This could be the fourth major layoff at the company in the past 18 months and comes amid growing pressure on the tech giant to focus on profitability, especially after its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023.

Sources told a news agency that the layoffs will impact several teams within the Xbox group. Although the exact number of job losses remains unclear, the move is expected to be substantial. These layoffs are part of a larger company-wide restructuring exercise that could also affect employees working in Microsoft’s global sales operations. The layoffs are likely to be announced early next week, just before the end of Microsoft’s fiscal year on June 30.

The Xbox division, which handles Microsoft’s gaming consoles, game development studios, and digital services like Game Pass, has already seen multiple layoffs over the past year. In 2023 alone, Microsoft shut down some of its gaming subsidiaries and made major staffing changes within Xbox. Now, with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard completed, the company appears to be reassessing its structure and cost strategy for the gaming arm.

Reports also suggest that this round of layoffs is not limited to gaming. Earlier this month, the news agency reported that Microsoft is planning to cut thousands of jobs across various departments, including sales. In May, the company reportedly laid off around 6,000 employees, mostly from engineering and product teams. Customer-facing roles such as sales and marketing were largely unaffected during that phase, but they might be targeted this time.

One of the reasons behind these cost-cutting measures is Microsoft’s ongoing investment in artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure. The company has committed billions of dollars into building data centres and AI-powered services. To support these high-cost areas, Microsoft is trying to optimise spending in other parts of the organisation.

According to Microsoft’s latest employee count, the company had 2.28 lakh workers worldwide as of June 2024, with around 45,000 people working in sales and marketing roles. With so many roles at stake and multiple teams involved, the upcoming layoff is expected to be among the biggest internal reshuffles in recent times.

While Microsoft has not officially confirmed the layoff plans, it has previously said that it regularly reviews its workforce structure to align with long-term goals.