Microsoft’s Irish operation is set to be hit by a round of job reductions announced by the company this week. Staff at two of its Irish subsidiaries could be facing cuts of at least 60 jobs.
The tech giant has not yet confirmed how many jobs are set to go as a result of the cutbacks, which will see 2.1 per cent of its global workforce – 4,800 people – leave the company.
The bulk of the cuts will come from its Xbox gaming business, which has a relatively limited presence in Ireland. The remainder will be in the commercial division.
The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment confirmed it had received notification from the tech giant of proposed collective redundancies from Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd (MIOL) and Microsoft Ireland Research (MIR) on Monday. It did not provide any further detail or confirm the total number of jobs at risk.
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Under Irish law, employers must notify the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment of collective redundancies. In the case of MIOL and MIR, under the requirements of notification of collective redundancies this could mean at least 60 jobs would be under threat at the subsidiaries as both employ more than 300 staff each.
Under the legislation 30 employees being cut is considered a collective redundancy in workplaces normally employing 300 or more people.
[ Microsoft’s Irish business paid $5.6bn in corporation tax last yearOpens in new window ]
Microsoft’s main Irish subsidiary MIOL employed close to 3,000 people at the end of June 2025, its most recent account filings show.
The company markets, sells and distributes hardware and software products and services for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. Its business has grown steadily in recent years, recording revenue of $93.1 billion in the year to June 30th, 2025.
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MIR, meanwhile, employed more than 1,600 people last year. The unit, which licenses the rights to assets owned and developed by the company to others within the group, recorded $36 billion (€31 billion) in profit after tax for the year, while revenue from royalties rose to $76 billion from $62 billion a year earlier.
Microsoft Ireland did not comment on the proposed job cuts.
Microsoft directly employs about 4,000 people in the Republic, and owns brands such as LinkedIn and Activision Blizzard. It bought the games maker three years ago in a $75 billion deal.
In a blog post, Microsoft’s chief people officer Amy Coleman said the cuts were needed as the company focused its “people, investments and energy on the priorities that will keep Microsoft positioned to deliver for customers in a fast-changing industry”.
The latest redundancies are a further blow to the tech sector in Ireland, which has been hit by a wave of cuts at Meta, Oracle and TikTok as companies readjust staff numbers amid heavy investment in artificial intelligence.
