On Wednesday, Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) acknowledged that it is laying-off small numbers of people across several departments. The corporation explained the cuts as performance-based choices to keep the staff performing at high levels.
"We respond appropriately when people are not performing," a Microsoft spokesman said. Said to affect fewer than 1% of Microsoft's 228,000 workforce, the layoffs follow past employment cuts. Microsoft cut office leases and lost 10,000 jobs in early 2023.
More recently, citing redundancy elimination, the corporation slashed 1,900 positions in its gaming segment in January 2024 following its $75.4 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft still emphasizes growth areas—especially its Azure cloud division—despite these workforce changes.
Driven by growing demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure, CFO Amy Hood just forecast increased Azure revenue growth in the first half of 2025. Wednesday's trading saw Microsoft shares rise 0.52%, indicating a strong investor faith in the company's long-term expansion path in spite of continuous cost control initiatives.
