Microsoft plans to lay off about 10,000 employees

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The American computer giant explained that it took this decision in response to the expected weak growth in its turnover.





SourceAFP


Microsoft has 221,000 employees worldwide and 122,000 in the United States. But a wave of layoffs has been announced (photo illustration).
© Peter Kneffel / dpa / Peter Kneffel/dpa

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Lhe American computer group Microsoft announced on Wednesday a series of cost-cutting measures, including the dismissal of around 10,000 employees by the end of March, or just under 5% of its workforce. The group explains in a stock exchange document that it made this decision “in response to macroeconomic conditions and changes in customer priorities”.

The company, which is laying off a little less than 5% of its workforce, also plans to modify its portfolio of IT equipment and reduce the number of workspaces. These savings measures will represent a charge of 1.2 billion dollars in the accounts for the staggered second quarter that the group must reveal on January 24. Its turnover is expected to increase by only 2.7% over one year, a very low rate for the computer giant, accustomed to double-digit growth.

Wave of layoffs in American tech

In a public letter to employees, Microsoft boss Satya Nadella explains that while “customers accelerated their IT spending during the pandemic,” they are now looking to optimize it to “do more with less.” . Businesses around the world are also “cautious” about recession risks as advances in artificial intelligence shake up the sector, he says.

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Microsoft had initially resisted thanks to the dynamism of remote computing (cloud), but companies have tended to limit their investments for several months for fear of a deterioration in the economy. Other major groups in the tech sector have announced workforce reductions in recent months, such as Amazon and Salesforce, which announced in early January the layoffs of approximately 18,000 and 8,000 employees respectively. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, also launched a social plan in November affecting 11,000 jobs.

Microsoft had already made two rounds of layoffs, one in July, which was, according to the company, on less than 1% of the workforce. The second took place in October and targeted less than 1,000 people, according to the Axios news site. Microsoft, which, according to its site, currently has 221,000 employees worldwide, had hired 75,000 since 2019, recalls Dan Ives, of the Wedbush firm, in a note. These dismissals are not a “surprise” in his eyes. The group “will continue to spend strategically on cloud, mergers and acquisitions (Activision), betting on innovation (ChatGPT), and continue to accelerate on innovation while reducing non-strategic areas (hardware, etc. )”, predicts the analyst.


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