Microsoft Is Planning to Lay Off 10,000 Workers, According to Several Reports

The layoffs could affect as much as 5% of the workforce.

learn more about Madeline Garfinkle

By Madeline Garfinkle

Stephen Brashear / Stringer | Getty Images
Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, Washington

Microsoft could be the latest tech giant to trim its workforce with major layoffs, according to several reports.

The company is planning to cut thousands of jobs, possibly up to 5% of its overall workforce, per the New York Times. The company employs over 220,000 people.

The layoffs will reportedly begin quickly, and could affect the engineering division as soon as Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

Microsoft is far from the first — and may not be the last — tech company to scale back on the workforce and pause hiring. As demand has slowed after the height of the pandemic, tech companies have begun reevaluating profit and priorities.

Related: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Announces 'Most Difficult Decision' in More Bad News for the Tech Giant Next Year

Amazon, which began letting go workers in its devices division, has also announced a new round of layoffs on Wednesday. The layoffs will reportedly affect 18,000 jobs, the largest cut in the company's history.

As for Microsoft, the number of layoffs could not be confirmed, a source told Bloomberg, but that it would be far larger than the layoffs over the past year, which only impacted about 1% of its workforce.

Madeline Garfinkle

Entrepreneur Staff

Editorial Assistant

Madeline Garfinkle is an Editorial Assistant at Entrepreneur.com. She is a graduate from Syracuse University, and received an MFA from Columbia University. 

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