Layoffs are continuing at Microsoft.
The tech giant is laying off thousands more workers, the second mass-layoff in the last few months and its largest in more than two years.
Multiple media outlets reported that Microsoft began sending layoff notices Wednesday. Divisions hit hardest include the company’s Xbox and video game business, among other divisions.
Included in the layoffs: Some 830 workers tied to Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, according to a notice sent to state officials Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. The company wouldn’t give a specific number of layoffs, but acknowledged it was about 4% of the workforce it had last year.
Microsoft said the cuts will affect multiple teams around the world, including its sales division, part of “organizational changes” needed to succeed in a “dynamic marketplace.”
A memo to gaming division employees Wednesday from Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said the cuts would position the video game business “for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas.”
Xbox would “follow Microsoft’s lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness,” Spencer wrote, according to the AP.
Microsoft employed 228,000 full-time workers as of last June, the last time it reported its annual headcount. If the company sticks to the 4% number, that would mean laying off some 9,100 people. But it has already had at least three layoffs this year and it’s unlikely that new hiring has matched the amount lost.
According to the AP report, Microsoft’s chief financial officer Amy Hood said on an April earnings call that the company was focused on “building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers.”
