Microsoft to lay off small part of workforce based on performance: report

Tech giant Microsoft on Wednesday said that it will lay off a small percentage of its workforce based on performance.

“At Microsoft, we focus on high-performance talent,” a spokesperson told CNBC in an email. “We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action.”

These job cuts will impact less than 1% of the workers, the report cited a source as saying. As of June end, Microsoft had 228,000 employees.

This layoff is minuscule compared to the downsizing exercises the company undertook in the last two years. At the start of 2023, the company laid off nearly 10,000 employees. In January, Microsoft let go of nearly 1,900 staffers in its gaming unit after completing its $75-billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Later in the year, the company also eliminated 1,500 roles in its Azure cloud computing business.

Back home, chief executive Satya Nadella has been on an Indian tour, where he announced a $3 billion investment to support local cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. He also announced an upskilling initiative for millions of youth in AI skills.