Microsoft on Monday offered voluntary buyouts to more than a quarter of its global workforce, as the tech giant aims to trim costs and invest more in artificial intelligence.
The company said about 60,000 employees based in the U.S., Canada, India and the United Kingdom were offered the buyouts.
Multiple reports said employees at the vice president level and below on select teams were extended the buyouts, but staffers working in sales, marketing and data centers were excluded.
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“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,” Microsoft’s Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said Monday in a blog post.
“This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support,” Ms. Coleman said.
Microsoft last reported having about 223,000 full-time employees in June. Its third-quarter earnings report is expected to be shared Wednesday.
The buyouts come as Microsoft is expected to spend more than $700 billion this year on data centers to meet AI computing demand.
Microsoft hosts cloud services for major players in the burgeoning AI industry, including OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and Anthropic, the developer behind Claude.
Monday’s announced buyouts follow Microsoft’s efforts to reduce the workforce this year.
In May, Microsoft opened a voluntary retirement program that applied to about 8,750 of its American employees. And in July, the company slashed about 4,800 jobs, many of whom worked at its Xbox video game division.
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