Microsoft Lays Off Employees Across Various Divisions

Microsoft has quietly laid off employees across various divisions, Business Insider reported today. The job cuts could affect under 1,000 jobs according to a person familiar with the matter, and several Microsoft employees have since confirmed the news on social media.

KC Lemson, a Microsoft veteran that joined the company back in 1998 is one of the employees who tweeted that she had just lost her Product Manager position in the office of the CTO. Greg Chapman, Principal Architect at Studio Alpha, Microsoft’s serious gaming initiative, also confirmed on Twitter that his entire team has been laid off, himself included.

Microsoft didn’t share details about which divisions were the most affected by the layoffs, though Business Insider learned that the Xbox division, the Microsoft Strategic Missions and Technology organization, and the Mission Expansion cloud government team have all been hit. The software giant also shared the following statement with Business Insider.

“Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. “We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.”

Microsoft announced in July that it was planning to slow down hiring and lay off less than 1% of its 180,000 employees across the world. A month later, Business Insider reported that the software giant had laid off its Modern Life Experience (MLX) team, which was working on consumer-focused features such as the Family Safety mobile apps.

Microsoft certainly isn’t the only tech company to be affected by the global economic slowdown this year. Meta, Intel, Google, and others have all announced hiring freezes this year, while other companies such as Netflix, Twitter, and Snap laid off employees.