- Microsoft reported to be laying off nearly 1% of its headcount
- Share prices haven’t risen as much as key rivals
- Financial performance is still strong at Microsoft
The technology industry is still grappling with ongoing financial challenges leading to widespread job losses, with Microsoft the latest to be affected.
Having already got rid of 10,000 workers (or around 5% of its headcount) at the height of the layoffs in January 2023, Microsoft went on to lay off at least another 2,500 of its employees in June 2024.
Now, just a week into 2025, the company has confirmed further reductions, affecting less than 1% of its workforce, which stood at 228,000 employees six months ago.
Microsoft lays off 1% of its headcount
“At Microsoft we focus on high-performance talent… We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action,” the company confirmed in an email to CNBC, indicating the redundancies could be part of a regular restructuring effort rather than a reaction to financial performance.
However, despite posting a revenue increase of 12% in its most recent quarter, around one percentage point ahead of key hyperscaler rivals Amazon and Google, Microsoft share prices didn’t quite please investors.
Over the past 12 months, Microsoft shares have risen 12.98%, compared with 37.06% for Google and a staggering 46.75% for Amazon.
Share prices don’t paint a full picture of the company’s performance though – it has the largest market cap of the three hyperscalers by far, at $3.156 trillion, compared with $2.382 for Google and $2.335 for Amazon.
Further details of the layoffs have not been confirmed, and it’s not known which workers are likely to be affected. TechRadar Pro has asked Microsoft to add further context, but we did not receive an immediate response.