Microsoft plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter, joining the ranks of technology giants that are scaling back as the industry prepares for a prolonged slump in demand.
The magnitude of the cuts couldn’t be learned, but the person, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential matters, said the reduction will be significantly larger than other rounds at Microsoft in the past year. Those cuts impacted less than 1% of the software giant’s workforce of more than 200,000.
Microsoft most recently shrank its workforce in October and July, and has eliminated open positions and paused hiring in various groups. While technology peers such as Amazon.com, Meta Platforms and Salesforce have announced cuts by the thousands in the past few months, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has so far been taking smaller steps to deal with a worsening global economic outlook and the potential for a protracted slowdown in demand for software and services.