Microsoft is set to snatch positions from its global workforce amidst the rough economic conditions, said a media report.

Microsoft To Lay Off Employees

According to a media report, the tech giant, Microsoft could announce layoffs in its engineering divisions as early as Wednesday.

While speaking to the media, Microsoft’s spokesperson said that the company would not comment on what it referred to as “rumour.”

The shares of Microsoft have dropped 23% in the past year and were little changed at $240.35 at the close in New York. Last year, the tech giant had trimmed more than 220,000 workers from the company twice.

A new layoff announcement would come a week before Microsoft is to report its earnings for the final three months of last year. Recently, in October and July, Microsoft shrank its workforce. The Washington state-based company has eliminated open positions and paused hiring in various groups.

Big MNCs like Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Salesforce Inc. have announced layoffs by the thousands in the past few months. Microsoft has so far been taking smaller steps to deal with a global economic outlook and the potential for a slowdown in demand for software and services.

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Analyst On Microsoft’s LayOff

On a note to the investors, analyst Dan Ives said, “Over the last few weeks we have seen significant headcount cut reduction from stalwarts Salesforce and Amazon.”

The analyst is expecting staff cuts of another 5 to 10 per cent across the tech sector, Ives told the investors.

“Many of these companies were spending money like 1980’s Rock Stars and now need to reign in the expense controls ahead of softer (macro-economic conditions),” he further wrote in his note.

Job slashing plan is the largest layoffs plans that have impacted the giants like Facebook owner Meta. Last year, Meta announced the loss of 11,000 jobs or about 13 per cent of its workforce. At the end of August, Snapchat let go of about 20 per cent of its employees, around 1,200 people.

Twitter, owned by Tesla founder Elon Musk, fired about half of the social media platform’s 7,500 employees.