Microsoft is laying off approximately 9,000 employees, impacting less than 4% of its global workforce.
On Wednesday, July 2, 2025, the second day of its 2026 fiscal year, the tech giant confirmed the move to CNBC via email, stating it will “continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace.”
Microsoft — which employed 228,000 people worldwide as of June 2024 — has conducted multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years, including letting 10,000 employees go in 2023.
In January 2025, the company reduced its headcount by less than 1% based on performance.
AFROTECH™ also reported that in May it laid off around 6,000 employees — roughly 3% of its global workforce. And the company cut at least 300 more in June.
A source familiar with the matter told CNBC that, like with the May layoffs, Microsoft is aiming to streamline its organizational structure by reducing the layers of management between individual contributors and top executives.
“To position Gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft’s lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness,” Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s CEO of gaming, wrote in a memo to employees.
In early 2024, Microsoft laid off about 1,900 employees from its gaming division just months after completing a $69 billion acquisition of gaming company Activision Blizzard. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, Microsoft cited a need to “reduce areas of overlap.”
At the time, Spencer expressed a desire to be thoughtful during the process.
“The Gaming Leadership Team and I are committed to navigating this process as thoughtfully as possible,” he told impacted employees. “The people directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they’ve accomplished here. We are grateful for all of the creativity, passion, and dedication they have brought to our games, our players, and our colleagues.”
