Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Lays Off Azure Staff and Much More, Spins These Layoffs as “Optimization Strategy”

They always have excuses and ridiculous tales ready to promptly tell the gullible

Hands



Summary: An in-depth but concise analysis of the recent "layoffs wave" at Microsoft; it's a lot more serious than they want us to think, with profound cuts that go much deeper and further than initially reported or acknowledged

MICROSOFT is not a growth company. It has been laying off workers for over a decade and buying all sorts of companies like Nokia that became "write-offs" (causing the company report massive losses, nor profits, quite a few times).



Microsoft Peter used to spread lies about their financial results every quarter up until his arrest for sexually abusing children. Even when Microsoft announced layoffs he would post Microsoft's 'prepared' statements (lies basically). A company can hide losses some of the time, but not all the time. When it admits losses it wants to make sure there's some good excuse for these.

Seeing the latest silence about Microsoft layoffs (employees were gagged about it and most weren't even told about it, based on what they've told us), we've decided to do some further research into it. This article is merely an outline of our findings.

"Microsoft Peter used to spread lies about their financial results every quarter up until his arrest for sexually abusing children."Firstly, let's consider the Microsoft spin; marketing and PR drones inside the media give us a lot of insight into that. It's all about the face-saving strategy. Microsoft's propagandist Mary Jo Foley does the typical propaganda at ZDNet right about now; her headline is calling the layoffs “usual” and “fewer than usual” (as a Microsoft mouthpiece would claim; this isn't some annual ritual). The company's spokesman called it “optimization strategy” (in the past they used to call layoffs "reorg"). This site says "Business Insider reports that jobs have been cut in the Microsoft Azure division," as we noted here before. Well, Azure is a failure and a fraud (or Ponzi scheme), according to insiders. What Microsoft tells shareholders about Azure is a lie (performance is being faked, hoping that false perception of 'growth' and 'health' will help suck businesses into this Clown Computing trap). It's a lock-in-based long-term strategy. "There is also talk of layoffs for Azure, the cloud division that brings the company billions of dollars in revenues," Brian Adam wrote.

Profits or just revenue, Brian?

Not the same thing.

If it's so profitable, then why the layoffs? Why are datacenters being shut? Remember that Microsoft was always a company of lawyers and predatory legal contracts (Bill's dad is a lawyer; Bill Gates studied law, albeit he never graduated). They use NDAs to silence their CFOs regarding financial misconduct and the sacked staff too is being gagged (to defend the lies; they try to discredit the few who speak out, sometimes they even bribe them to shut up, as is widely documented).

The above also says that "Microsoft has already been making cuts to its business over the past few months. In terms of its games business, it most notably closed streaming service Mixer just four years after acquiring it."

"Microsoft hoped people would not notice all these layoffs. But sacked employees used encrypted communication software to speak to journalists (what's left of them), so right now Microsoft is belittling their reports."We've taken stock of at least four rounds of layoffs since June and it turns out that Microsoft isn't even done sacking MSN workers. "Microsoft is reportedly making more job cuts at MSN," this report says, echoing the "HEY HI" (AI) spin. As if it's OK to lay off staff because of some buzzword.

"Microsoft announced the closure of all the physical stores to focus exclusively on online sales," Brian Adam said. Again... pure spin.

These closures alone (about 100 stores) would be over 1,000 people.

We're accustomed to this sort of spin, having seen it at the European Patent Office (EPO), Novell and other institutions that we studied very closely. We speak to people from the EPO and from Microsoft, so we have insight (but cannot elaborate too much; source protection first). We also spoke to Novell insiders, who gave us tips and information.

Microsoft hoped people would not notice all these layoffs. But sacked employees used encrypted communication software to speak to journalists (what's left of them), so right now Microsoft is belittling their reports. As one might expect.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Linux is Sabotaged by Botspam and Bloat (de Facto Denial of Service Attack in "Intelligence" Clothing After Rust in "Security" Clothing)
Linux is becoming orphaned, devalued and diluted by GAFAM slop
Switzerland No Longer Wants Microsoft's 'Swiss Cheese' (Back Doors)
Switzerland's patience with Microsoft is wearing thin
Debian is Not a Community, Many Debian Developers Work for Large Companies Including GAFAM (US)
"Community" sounds like friendship and amicability
Links 08/09/2026: Slop Companies Attack Some More Sites, Nvidia Bribes 'Linux' Foundation for Some More Openwashing and for Saying Slop is "Secure"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/09/2026: Ultra Introverts, BlackBerry Bold in 2026, and Laughing at LLMs
Links for the day
Microsoft Layoffs in October 2026
Microsoft is a market leader. In NDAs.
Links 08/09/2026: "The Green Revolution Has Failed Africa" and Palantir/Microsoft Harming NHS
Links for the day
Microsoft's Silent Layoffs Are the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft has a ton of layoffs all the time, but the media isn't mentioning those as no WARN notices get issued
SLAPP Censorship - Part 175 Out of 200: Implicit and Explicit Coalition Against the UK's SLAPP Industry
SRA recognises the problem
Further Transparency Problems at the EPO
The EPO was never meant to be profitable
Gemini Links 08/09/2026: "Everything Must Go", Announcing Perigee, and Presentations in a Browser
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 07, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, September 07, 2026
Alleged Manager at IBM Says "[t]here are likely to be a lot (and I meant, A LOT) of RAs before December."
"We’re getting pressure from above to put some team members on PIPs."
Links 07/09/2026: Amazon Cargo Plane Crash, .org/.net/.com Domains Considered Risky
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/09/2026: Cheese, Text-based Life, and Icons in Swaybar
Links for the day
Freedom, Not Fame, is His Goal
pursuit of money can be not only tiring but also involve abandoning one's freedom
Links 07/09/2026: Slop Trashes Memory of Parton, Flock Surveillance Infuriates Everyone
Links for the day
Getting Better After 20 Years
Exactly two months from now this site is turning 20
EPO Hiding Cocainegate and Abandoning Transparency (Even Access to Very Basic Information is Denied)
The EPO isn't just becoming like a private for-profit corporation. It's also becoming more secretive.
Richard Stallman Has Resurrected Lost Updates
We didn't ask about it
SLAPP Censorship - Part 174 Out of 200: Cascading Scandals and a Path Towards Much-Needed, Long-Awaited Reform
Reform the UK's law, not "Reform UK"
EPO's Gema Requena Sempere (PD People) Contacted Regarding Children With Disabilities
In the coming week we may be in fruitful contact with some media regarding EPO scandals
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Gemini Links 07/09/2026: Music Composition, Free Stuff, and Self-hosting Git Repos
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 06, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, September 06, 2026
People Who Enforce the GPL Banned From Linux Foundation Board (After Bribes From Prolific GPL Violators), Now They're Banned From Giving Talks at Events
about the "LF" ('Linux' Foundation)
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: The Slop Plagiarism 'Holy War' (Hype, Scam, Scheme), Burning CD-Rs, and Hardcopy Mono
Links for the day
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part IV - Insufficient Resources in the Face of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) by Lawyers
it's about 120KG
OpenStreetMap is the Future, Dictatorship is the Past
OpenStreetMap helped us check maps for transport, various overlays with addresses, and there was 0% reliance on GAFAM or "Google" anything
Silent Layoffs, Cool-down, and Cool-off: How GAFAM and IBM Operate (the Law Doesn't Apply to Them)
Laws? What laws?
How Strikes at the European Patent Office Are Seen by Striking Staff in Berlin, Germany
We have some more EPO scandals to cover later this year and next year
Association for Computing Machinery Cites Techrights in Relation to GemText and Gemini Protocol
published yesterday, Open Access
Links 06/09/2026: More XBox Trouble (Microsoft Unrest, Many Silent Layoffs This Month), John Duffy as Next USPTO General Counsel
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Avoiding 'Smart' 'Phones' and Setting up Gemini for the First Time
Links for the day
Links 06/09/2026: Sabotage by Slop and "What Happens If 'Open' 'AI' Dies?"
Links for the day
How Back Doors Became the 'Normal' or 'Norm'
"We also allowed a lethal monoculture to fester"
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part III - The SRA is Vastly Worse Than Brits Realise, We Have a "Wild West" in London
In the next part we'll begin looking at correspondence with the SRA
SRA and Manslaughter: How the SRA Contributed to Agony in Proprietary Software Scandals With Clear Misuse of "Without Prejudice"
Trying to prevent the public from finding out the criminal stuff that went on, resulting in many deaths
Canonical (or Ubuntu) Rejecting IRC Isn't the Widespread Trend
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) adoption still growing by some yardsticks
SLAPP Censorship - Part 173 Out of 200: Two Years
It was exactly 2 years ago that we filed lawsuits against Garrett
Linux of America
We could not help but notice GNU/Linux in North America yesterday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 05, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 05, 2026
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Internet Limiting (Limited Time Allotted) and Solar MiniServer
Links for the day
Eight Months of Strikes in EPO, Organised by the Staff Union (SUEPO) Also in Berlin
In Berlin, only one member of staff voted against the action plan