While they continue to make billions of dollars in digital investments, the world’s largest technology companies are also shrinking their workforces, with Microsoft planning to delete thousands of jobs.
The Windows operating system developer said it would lay off almost 4% of its workforce to reduce costs as it pours huge sums into its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
This is an increase on the 3% staff reduction reported in May.
With about 228,000 employees as of June 2024, the announcement would affect up to 9,000 workers, particularly in sales, according to a Reuters story.
The company has earmarked US$80 billion in capital spending for the 2025 financial year but this is crimping profit margins.
Microsoft’s gaming division laid off hundreds of employees on Wednesday, which is part of a broader cost reduction program, according to a Bloomberg article.
Employment reductions have also been announced by Facebook parent Meta (NASDAQ: META), Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Google and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) as some of the so-called Magnificent Seven largest tech companies try to rein in costs.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) shares closed 96 cents (0.20%) lower at US$491.09 on Wednesday, capitalising the company at $3.65 trillion (A$5.54 trillion).
