Microsoft is planning to axe thousands of jobs, particularly in sales, as part of the company’s latest move to trim its workforce amid heavy spending on artificial intelligence.
The news will come as a new blow to Microsoft’s Irish-based workforce, which is already facing cuts announced last month aimed at reducing the company’s layers of management. Microsoft currently employs around 6,000 people in Ireland including its LinkedIn professional networking platform.
The cuts are expected to be announced early next month, following the end of Microsoft’s fiscal year, according to people familiar with the matter. The reductions won’t exclusively affect sales teams, and the timing could still change, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss a private matter.
The company declined to comment.
Microsoft has trimmed jobs several times since 2023, when it cut 10,000 jobs globally as part of a wave of job losses hit the wider tech community. The prospect of more cuts had been reported in April, and the company told employees it planned to use third-party firms to handle more sales of software to small and mid-size customers.
Microsoft has said it regularly re-evaluates the organisational structure to make sure it’s investing for growth. As the company spends tens of billions of dollars on servers and data centres, executives have pledged to Wall Street, and warned employees, that it would keep a lid on spending in other areas.
The company had 228,000 workers at the end of June 2024, 45,000 of them in sales and marketing. Microsoft often restructures teams and announces other changes near the end of its fiscal year, which closes in June. – Bloomberg
