Journalistic Malpractice: Helping Microsoft Paint 'Voluntary' Layoffs (Before PIPs) as "Buyouts"

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Apr 26, 2026

Microsoft looking to remove almost 10,000 of its most "expensive" (read: experienced) workers isn't a buyout; the reality is far grimmer

The definition of the term "buyout" is very clear and even narrow:

to take over ownership of; -- of corporations and companies

Months ago in the UK Google (GAFAM) called its layoffs "buyouts" and now Microsoft operatives do the same for Microsoft (also GAFAM).

Why did so many so-called 'journalists' play along in this PR ploy?

What does this tell us about today's media? Do we even enjoy free press anymore? Must it parrot every claim made by billionaires? (Or else get sued or threatened with a lawsuit) █

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

SLAPP Censorship - Part 58 Out of 200: 5RB and Brett Wilson LLP Helped Garrett and Graveley Make Equivalent of GAFAM NDAs Superficially 'Enforceable' in the UK, Using Threats: laziness results in many hours and high lawyers' fees
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 26, 2026: IRC logs for Sunday, April 26, 2026
Journalistic Malpractice: Helping Microsoft Paint 'Voluntary' Layoffs (Before PIPs) as "Buyouts": What does this tell us about today's media?
The Man IBMers Regard or Already See as Likely Successor of Krishna (or Next CEO of IBM) is a Slop Fanatic: How dangerously misguided
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part VI - Management of the European Patent Office (EPO) Covered Up Cocaine Use, Even Colleagues Not Informed: the self-described "fu--ing president"
Who Controls Fedora? IBM and GAFAM.: Don't for a moment believe that IBM understands GNU/Linux. We are quite certain nobody in IBM's Board of Directors uses it.
State of Slop About GNU/Linux: As the incentive to publish is reduced (competing with slop is no fun), the effort/money invested in stories goes down
Links 26/04/2026: Korean Inflation, GLP-1 Drugs Linked to Cognitive Impairment, Lithuania's Public Broadcaster LRT Besieged: Links for the day
Hopefully Smooth Sailing in OS Upgrade: There are some contingencies at hand
Links 25/04/2026: "Horrible Economics of AI Are Starting to Come Crashing Down", More Restrictions Placed on Social Control Media: Links for the day
Getting Aggressive Suggestive of Loss - Part IV - Shutting Down My Existence: Would anyone out there tolerate such messages sent from burner accounts?
Gemini Links 26/04/2026: Gemini Movie Database (or GeminiMDB) and Star Trek III: Links for the day
Weeks Before Linux Removed Over 100,000 Lines of Code Due to Slop 'Bug Reports' Microsoft Paid 'Linux' Foundation to Advance Slop in the Name of 'Security': What can possible go wrong? Both for security and for stability.
Tracking Ages of People: To stay "safe" tell us your age
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 25, 2026: IRC logs for Saturday, April 25, 2026
"A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin that he commits; on the testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed." (Deuteronomy 19-21): The spouse of Garrett repeatedly points out that Garrett can barely code or can only do so very poorly
Rust People Sabotage Stability for the Sake of a Falsely-Promised 'Security': Set aside severe performance issues, poor handling of "edge cases", general bugs, lack of compatibility, and even crashes
SLAPP Censorship - Part 57 Out of 200: 5RB and Brett Wilson LLP Made the Garrett and Graveley Particulars of Claims a Lot Like Photocopies!: They seem very much irritated that I speak about this
Huge Strike at the European Patent Office (EPO) This Coming Friday (May 1st): International Worker’s day
Links 25/04/2026: Nokia Wins Embargo in Kangaroo Court Where Judges Are Salaried Nokia Staff (UPC), Allison Pearson Defamation Case (UK) Succeeds, Smokey Robinson and "Puff Daddy" (US) Fail: Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2026: Weekly Echoes, Gemtext Tables, and Using Offpunk: Links for the day
Corporate Media Did Not Specify What Microsoft Means by "Buyouts" (Layoffs), It May Be Hardly Different From Severance: Time will tell, but investigative journalism hardly exists anymore, so we won't hold our breath
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part V - "Diversity" and "Inclusion" at EPO Means Sleeping With Sister of "Cocaine Communication Manager" and Making Them Millionaires: Remember that top applicants or key stakeholders of the EPO are already complaining about a lack of quality
Links 25/04/2026: Fake GAFAM Valuations (Gripping the Market Based on False Accounting), "Evidence Isn't Just for Research", and "Putin Defends Mobile Internet Outages": Links for the day
Dr. Andy Farnell on Why Calling Slop or Chaff "Hey Hi" (AI) Harm Us All, Except for "Ten or Twenty Rich Industrialists": "words to avoid"
Internet Trolls Likely Trying to Distract From the Demise of IBM, Problems With Red Hat: there seems to be trolling online aimed at suppressing discussion
Debian Upgrade Coming Up (Soon): Yesterday we contacted the datacentre staff about it
Getting Aggressive Suggestive of Loss - Part III - Threats From Burner Accounts Formally Treated as a Crime: Countries that cannot preserve freedom from self-censorship are countries where free press ultimately cannot prevail
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 24, 2026: IRC logs for Friday, April 24, 2026
Gemini Links 25/04/2026: 3.4k+ Capsules, Microsoft Layoffs, Call for Nuclear Disarmament, "Internet is Sad and Lonely": Links for the day