Job cuts 2026: Reports suggest Microsoft may announce job cuts in January

Microsoft may be preparing for this year’s first round of job cuts, according to a report by HR Digest. The report said that teams across Gaming, Azure and Sales are most likely to be impacted.

The information was first shared through a post on Blind, an anonymous professional networking platform. According to the post, between 5% and 10% of Microsoft’s employees could be affected in the third week of January.

The suggested rationale behind the move is a push to cut down on middle management layers and increase the individual contributor to manager (IC) ratios.