Microsoft announced on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, that it is offering voluntary buyouts to approximately 60,000 employees. The offer is available to roughly 27% of the company's global workforce and is intended to manage costs as the firm increases spending on artificial intelligence.
This program follows previous workforce reductions and a separate buyout offer earlier this year. In July, Microsoft cut 4,800 jobs, including workers at its Xbox video game business. According to reports cited by CNBC, the company also offered early retirement to about 7% of its U.S. workforce in April, a plan that saw a 30% take-up rate among eligible staff.
Chief People Officer Amy Coleman stated in a memo that the "Voluntary Exit Offer" is available to eligible employees in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and India. The program is limited to workers at the vice president level and below. Certain departments, including data center operations and sales and marketing, are excluded from the offer.
Microsoft, which had roughly 223,000 full-time employees at the end of June, is currently focusing resources on artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company's investments in data centers to power AI could reach $700 billion this year. These expenditures have increased the costs of computer processors, memory chips, and electricity, which economists cited in reports expect will contribute to inflation through the end of the year.
The scale of the offer—covering more than one in four Microsoft employees—comes as the company allocates its budget toward AI infrastructure. By reducing its headcount, Microsoft seeks to lower labor costs to offset the rising price of hardware and energy.
What happens next depends on the participation rate of the 60,000 eligible staff. Microsoft is scheduled to publish its quarterly financial results on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, which may provide further details on the program's cost. While the specific deadline for employees to accept the offer was not reported, the company described the window for the program as a "limited period of time."