Microsoft has offered a quarter of its entire workforce redundancy

Microsoft has announced a voluntary redundancy scheme that could see 60,000 people leave their jobs, which is around a quarter of the company’s entire staff.

Executive vice president Amy Coleman announced the Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO) on Tuesday, which she said would give eligible employees in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States the opportunity to leave Microsoft with “financial support and career planning resources”.

According to Business Insider, the offer goes to 60,000 employees and is the company’s latest attempt to slim its workforce without involuntary cuts, after heavy spending on AI infrastructure.

“This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support,” Coleman wrote. “It also gives participating organizations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs.

“The Voluntary Exit Offer reflects an important part of how we’re evolving our approach to change: creating greater flexibility and, where possible, more ways for employees to shape their next chapter.”

In gaming, Microsoft has enacted a sweeping overhaul of Xbox’s content strategy this year, laying off thousands of staff and closing or divesting numerous first-party studios, with more layoffs planned for the coming months.

Xbox boss Asha Sharma recently denied the gaming division could be sold by Microsoft, following her streamlining of the business. Earlier this summer, a report by The Information claimed that Microsoft was considering spinning out or restructuring its gaming division as a wholly owned subsidiary. This would, in theory, make Xbox easier to sell off in the future.

However, in an interview with The New York Times, Sharma denied that any such plans exist. “Xbox is not for sale,” Sharma told the publication. “We will do whatever it takes to set the company up for success, and we will look at the right partnerships, the right operating model and everything needed to achieve that.”

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