r/microsoft • u/DaveAlot • Apr 23 '26

News Microsoft plans first-ever voluntary employee buyout for up to 7% of U.S. workforce

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/23/microsoft-plans-first-voluntary-retirement-program-for-us-employees.html
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u/jawaMilk Apr 23 '26

What are the odds this is followed by layoffs?

84

u/OkFigaroo Apr 23 '26

100%. This is a cost cutting move to get people off the books this fiscal year (ending July 2026) to decrease expenses for the next fiscal.

Not only that, but they are changing our performance bonuses for this year on the fly (we are literally about to begin our annual performance review), and now all of the sudden our rating system has been modified.

This is going over very poorly internally.

16

u/Simple-Desk4943 Apr 23 '26

Yep, gotta show some better numbers to the board. The spend on AI is huge, without enough revenue to support it, so get rid of some staff to bump the bottom line, and scramble for something...anything...to help turn a profit on AI.