Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to up to 60,000 employees

On October 26, 2026, Bloomberg first reported that Microsoft Corp. will offer buyouts to about 60,000 workers at VP level and below across teams in the US, Canada, India, and the UK, as part of efforts to trim costs and retool its workforce for the artificial intelligence era. At the end of June, Microsoft's headcount stood at 223K.

Minutes later, The Verge reported that Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to up to 60,000 employees across the US, UK, Canada, and India. Amy Coleman, Microsoft's chief people officer, wrote in an internal message that this gives staff the opportunity to leave Microsoft with financial support and career planning resources, as the company looks to trim staff without another round of layoffs. Note the figures differ slightly: Bloomberg's wording is about 60,000, while The Verge frames the ceiling as up to 60,000.

On October 27, CNBC reported that Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to roughly 60,000 employees, characterizing the move as an attempt to balance a rapid infrastructure build-out with capital efficiency; that report did not specify which departments or roles are involved. Public information on the program currently stops at its scale, covered countries, and the employee levels named, and Microsoft has not released numbers on how many employees have applied or accepted.