Microsoft Prepares to Lay Off Thousands of Workers

Microsoft is reportedly planning to cut “thousands of jobs” next month as the AI revolution continues to reshape the business world—including Microsoft itself, Andrew Nusca reported for Fortune Tech.

Among the so-called "Magnificent Seven" big tech companies, Microsoft has one of the largest workforces, employing a team of 228,000 as of last year.

According to a new Bloomberg report, the company’s sales organization is expected to be particularly affected. Just two months ago, Microsoft told employees it would increasingly rely on third-party firms to handle sales for small- and medium-sized customers.

The company’s most recent round of layoffs, which impacted about 6,000 employees in its product and engineering groups, occurred just last month.

Like many of its tech peers, Microsoft has told investors that it plans to ramp up spending on AI, cloud infrastructure, and related talent—while cutting costs in other areas.

Among the so-called "Magnificent Seven" big tech companies, Microsoft has one of the largest workforces, employing 228,000 people as of last year. In comparison, Amazon employed 1.55 million; Google, 183,000; Apple, 164,000; Tesla, 126,000; and Meta, 77,000.