Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has confirmed 10,000 job cuts at the company worldwide, including almost 1,000 in its home US state of Washington.
The location of the other cuts has not been confirmed, but they equate to less than 5% of the company’s total headcount, after fears earlier this week that it could be far higher.
As Microsoft revealed its axe wielding, it was also announced that security vendor Sophos was making 10% of its workforce redundant, although that move equates to hundreds rather than thousands of lost jobs.
Other jobs have just been lost at unified communications vendors 8x8 and RingCentral. These cuts come after a raft of job losses announced at various other firms since the start of the new year, including at Salesforce and Amazon.
Microsoft’s Nadella said of his firm’s job losses, in response to a slowing technology market: “We’re living through times of significant change, and as I meet with customers and partners, a few things are clear. First, as we saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we’re now seeing them optimise their digital spend to do more with less.
“We’re also seeing organisations in every industry and geography exercise caution, as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one.”
He added: “We are taking a $1.2 billion charge in Q2 related to severance costs, changes to our hardware portfolio, and the cost of lease consolidation as we create higher density across our workspaces.”
Those Q2 results will be announced next Tuesday, 24 January.
