Microsoft Layoffs Persist If One Counts Contractors and Other Irregular Staff
Microsoft has (by our count) laid off over 30,000 people so far this year. This extent is being masked by misleading statements and reporting that's based on such statements (i.e. misreporting). Sometimes they don't count subsidiaries, contractors and several offshoots, e.g. in China.
Yesterday we wrote about an example from the UK. An XBox site now explains that "Avalanche Studios most recent title, Contraband was cancelled back in August amidst huge restructuring and layoffs at Microsoft. The game was initially announced way back in 2021 and was due to be a co-operative, open-world title, set in the fictional world of Bayan. After the cancellation, the Head of Xbox Phil Spencer commented on the changes at Microsoft stating that the changes aimed to “end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft’s lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness”. Following the cancellation, Avalanche Studios then started the collective consultation procedure, a requirement in UK law which has now come to an end."
One could argue those are - indirectly at least - Microsoft layoffs. Employment practices may hide this a bit. █