Microsoft plans to lay off 9,000 employees

Microsoft said Wednesday that it will lay off roughly 4% of its workforce, or about 9,000 people, in another indication of the tightening job market at big technology companies.

- KAREN WEISE

The layoffs follow a reduction of about 6,000 positions in May. Microsoft had 228,000 employees at the end of June 2024, its most recent disclosure.

Although the outlook for the economy has been shaky in recent months, Microsoft has continued to produce multibillion-dollar quarterly profits. Its last earnings report showed unexpected strength, and investors have driven its market valuation up to almost $3.7 trillion. But Microsoft is in the middle of an expensive investment in artificial intelligence, including spending billions to lease and build data centres to support the demand for cloud computing and AI.