More global tech job cuts at Microsoft

More job cuts are hitting the tech industry as Microsoft announces 10,000 positions will be lost, affecting up to 5% of its global workforce. 

The redundancies are the latest to hit the industry which saw massive growth and hiring during the pandemic that has now slowed, leading to the need to reduce costs.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s Chief Executive said that reduced growth has come as customers ‘exercise caution’ following greater spending on tech whilst people worked from home and spent more time online according to the BBC, however it is reported that the business will continue hiring in some key areas. 

Following a report by Sky News earlier this week, the announcement comes before Mr Nadella will be updating investors on the company’s financial performance in a meeting on January 24. 

Microsoft is currently valued at around $1.78tn and is one of the highest valued public companies in the world, sitting alongside other tech giants such as Apple, Amazon and Google’s parent company Alphabet. 

Amazon also saw a slew of redundancies recently after the retail, media and tech giant announced that over 18,000 jobs would be cut due to ‘economic uncertainty’ following a period of rapid hiring. 

Other tech companies which have seen mass layoffs recently include Twitter and Meta whilst Apple has paused nearly all hiring until further notice. 

It is estimated that Microsoft employs about 6,000 people in the UK though it is not yet known exactly which employees will be affected by these redundancies which could cost the company $1.2bn in severance and reorganisation costs. 

Last year it was reported that around 1,000 Microsoft employees had been let go across multiple departments for similar reasons. 

UK investment into technology, whilst still some of the highest in the world, fell last year by 22% with mass layoffs given as one of the reasons in a ‘State of European Tech’ report.

Photo by Matthew Manuel