avday Microsoft has offered about 60,000 staff, roughly a quarter of its workforce, the chance to leave with a severance package. Far fewer are likely to take it.
At the 5% to 6% take-up Microsoft cites from other companies, that would be about 3,000 to 3,600 people (our calculation). Microsoft reports its quarterly results on Wednesday 28 October, the first chance to hear how many it expects.
What Microsoft announced
Microsoft’s chief people officer, Amy Coleman, set out the “Voluntary Exit Offer” on Microsoft’s blog on 26 October. It’s “a time-limited, voluntary program that gives those who are eligible the opportunity to leave Microsoft with financial support and career planning resources,” she wrote.
Her post gives no headcount. Microsoft confirmed the figure of around 60,000 to TechCrunch, which said Business Insider first reported the offer. Against the roughly 223,000 full-time staff in its last annual report, that’s about 27%.
Who’s eligible
- Countries: the US, the UK, Canada and India. Microsoft hasn’t said how many UK staff are eligible, and its annual report doesn’t split international staff by country.
- Seniority: “level 70 and below”, in Microsoft’s own wording. Several outlets describe that as vice president level and below.
- Teams: only the teams taking part, which TechCrunch, citing Bloomberg, says include Xbox, Windows, Copilot and finance. A Microsoft spokesperson told KIRO 7 that marketing, sales and some engineering teams are not included.
- Terms: the spokesperson described it as a standard severance offer. Microsoft hasn’t published the amounts.
- Timing: staff have until early December to decide and would leave on 31 December, Deadline reported.
Why so few are likely to go
Microsoft ran a smaller version in April: voluntary retirement for US staff whose age and years at the company added up to at least 70. About 8,600 were eligible and 30% took it, a spokesperson told KIRO 7.
This offer is less generous. The spokesperson said Microsoft doesn’t expect anywhere close to that take-up, and that this is standard severance without the retirement offer’s added incentives. Similar programmes at other companies saw closer to 5% to 6% of staff leave, the spokesperson said.
That’s why the headline number overstates the cut. The table at the top puts it next to Microsoft’s main job cuts since 2025. The 60,000, like April’s 8,600, counts who can leave. The layoffs counted jobs cut.
Is this about AI?
Microsoft says not. “The spokesperson said artificial intelligence is not driving the buyout programs,” KUOW reported.
What’s changed is where the money goes. Microsoft’s additions to property and equipment rose about 80% in its last financial year, to $115.9bn from $64.6bn, according to its 10-K, while headcount fell 2%. We looked at the wider evidence in is AI replacing software developers?
What to watch
Microsoft reports fiscal first-quarter results on Wednesday 28 October after the US market closes, with a webcast at 9:30pm UK time. Listen for the cost of the offer and how many staff Microsoft expects to leave. For employees, the next date is the decision deadline, reported as early December. For another recent Microsoft call on AI infrastructure, see its exit from Nscale’s Loughton data centre.
