More Microsoft Layoffs on the Way (June and July 2026)
Microsoft's "buyout" offer (not retirement; it targets people in their 40s) was discussed by us with GAFAM (not Microsoft) staff the other day. It seems clear that it's fast becoming a popular - to bosses at least! - quasi-legal way to get rid of people without calling it layoffs, with other mechanisms being RTO, PIPs, or intentionally overworking people (driving them to inevitable failures to meet targets, with or without PIPs; it causes fatigue, stress, sometimes breakdown).
"In this day and age that is a very good offer," somebody wrote regarding Microsoft "buyouts" (it's all relative). "If you qualify take it. Layoff round it will not be as good later" (as everybody knows). And "once FY26 done they just gonna cut you loose no buyout needed," wrote the same person. Remember that "last day" of those offered a "buyout" is July 1st and this date has a fiscal significance (leap between accounting years).
"Translation," wrote the person is another context, "if you qualify take it since they want to trim off the expensive labor cost and deploy elsewhere. Its a nice hint they want you gone one way or the other. Typically the severance plan gets less and less after each round" (we'll never know how many took severance and how many took a "buyout", which is merely glorified severance).
As it looks at the moment, about 10,000 people are losing their job at Microsoft. We're not (yet) talking about XBox, where insiders expect a "bloodbath" and try to join a union, bracing for what they know will come soon. XBox is on its way down, turning it into some online/streaming thing (or rebranding Vista 11 as "XBox") won't work because sales have collapsed, as did demand in general.
XBox has no strategy anymore, so press reports say it is trying to buy one [1, 2, 3]. These reports fail to mention just how many of XBox's leaders left the company this year. We've counted at least half a dozen so far (very high level). It's like they vacate the place, seeing there will be no rebound, only mass layoffs.
Microsoft mass layoffs - in anything but name - aren't done. Microsoft's sole growth area is debt. █