Microsoft Offers 60,000 Workers Largest-Ever Buyout as AI Shift Fuels Job Anxiety
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Nov 6
Microsoft Offers 60,000 Workers Largest-Ever Buyout as AI Shift Fuels Job Anxiety
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Nov 6
Summary
About 60,000 Microsoft employees—more than a quarter of the workforce—were offered buyouts last week, the company’s biggest such program ever and its second this year.
The offer hit a workforce already strained by heavier AI demands, stagnant pay and fading confidence in job security, according to six employees.
Microsoft’s spending shift underscores the pressure: quarterly profit rose 32% to $36.6 billion on $92.3 billion in revenue, while capital spending climbed 30% to $45.2 billion.
Roughly $170 billion in expected annual spending, largely on data centers, has sharpened fears over what comes next and prompted some workers to organize around how AI is deployed.