Microsoft has offered voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 employees, roughly 27% of its 223,000-strong workforce, in its latest move to cut costs.
The company told staff about the new Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO) on October 26th in a memo from Amy Coleman, Microsoft's Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, as reported by CNBC. "The Voluntary Exit Offer reflects an important part of how we're evolving our approach to change: creating greater flexibility and, where possible, more ways for employees to shape their next chapter," Coleman wrote. She added that the scheme "builds on what we learned earlier this year through the Voluntary Retirement Program."
Who can take the offer
The offer covers staff at Microsoft's internal level 70 and below in the US, Canada, India and the UK. According to CNBC, that reaches as high as vice president level. Not every part of the company is taking part. The memo said "some organizations are providing the Voluntary Exit Offer, and some are not," and CNBC's source said some marketing, sales and engineering teams had opted out.
Eligible employees have until early December to decide. Those who accept will leave Microsoft on December 31st. A Microsoft spokesperson told Business Insider that the terms would be similar to the company's standard severance and that there were no plans for another buyout at this time. According to CNBC, the company has no target for how many people it wants to take the offer.
Microsoft's cost cutting in 2026
The buyout follows two other workforce moves this year. In April, Microsoft launched its first-ever Voluntary Retirement Program, open to around 7% of its US staff, and more than 30% of those eligible took it. In July, the company announced plans to lay off 4,800 employees.
CNBC linked the cuts to Microsoft's heavy spending on data centres for artificial intelligence (AI), with the company expecting capital spending of more than $50bn for the September quarter. Microsoft, which also owns Xbox, is due to report its quarterly results on October 28th.
