Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 staff amid AI push

Tech giant Microsoft has offered exit packages to 60,000 employees, roughly 27% of its global workforce, as it seeks to cut costs while heavily investing in AI.

It marks the company’s second voluntary exit initiative this year. Microsoft employed 223,000 globally by the end of June, according to a regulatory filing.

The exit program includes staff at the vice-president level and below across select teams in the US, Canada, India, and the UK. However, the company will not offer the program to employees in data centers, sales, and marketing.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Bloomberg that employees taking the buyout will receive benefits similar to those in standard severance packages.