GoKawiilMicrosoft offers buyouts to 60,000 staff, nearly 27% of workforce
Microsoft has extended a voluntary exit offer to about 60,000 employees across the US, Canada, India and the UK, covering workers at experience level 70 or below. Executive vice president Amy Coleman announced the program on the company blog, describing it as building on an earlier voluntary retirement offer from April that was open to about 7% of US staff and saw over 30% uptake. Eligible employees are being notified by email with program details.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The scale of this offer, affecting over a quarter of Microsoft's roughly 223,000-person workforce, suggests the company is pursuing broader cost reduction than its earlier, smaller program. The timing coincides with heavy spending commitments on AI data centers and separate job cuts tied to an Xbox restructuring, which could indicate Microsoft is reallocating its wage budget toward AI infrastructure, though the company has not stated this as the reason.
- Around 60,000 Microsoft employees, about 27% of staff, are eligible for a new voluntary exit program.
- The offer follows an April retirement program that drew over 30% participation among eligible US workers.
- The buyouts coincide with Microsoft's heavy AI data center investment and separate Xbox-related job cuts of 3,200 positions.
Source: tomshardware.com — Oliver Haslam, 2026-10-27
Published there as: “60,000 Microsoft employees offered voluntary buyouts as AI buildout costs bite”
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