Microsoft To Cut 9,000 Jobs In Second Major Layoff Wave

Seattle Times business reporter Alex Halverson just published a breaking story on Microsoft’s latest wave of layoffs, which will affect up to 9,100 employees—roughly 4% of its 228,000-person workforce. The move is part of a broader cost-cutting and restructuring effort.

Halverson provided more color:  

Microsoft is kicking off its fiscal year by firing thousands of employees in the largest round of layoffs since 2023, the company confirmed Wednesday.

In an ongoing effort to streamline its workforce, Microsoft said that as much as 4%, or roughly 9,100, of the company’s employees could be affected by Wednesday’s layoffs. It’s unclear how many are based in Washington. The move follows two waves of layoffs in May and June, which saw Microsoft fire more than 6,000 employees, almost 2,300 of whom were based in Washington.

Data compiled by Bloomberg shows Microsoft’s workforce stands at 228,000 (as of 4Q24). A 4% cut suggests that as data centers come online, many white-collar roles are becoming obsolete, marking what could be a generational peak in its total headcount.

And it may signal further job declines ahead for Microsoft, as new data centers come online to support AI tools, driving productivity gains.

Expired: workers
Wired: data centers https://t.co/4gLaWSXzm6 pic.twitter.com/KJRu9NQApc

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 2, 2025

Related: 

• Takeover Begins: Robots Set To Outnumber Humans At Amazon Warehouses

Additionally, a new report released on Tuesday suggested that Amazon has reached its employment peak due to increasing automation and AI trends in its warehouses.

For a clearer picture of how many jobs AI will displace, see this 2023 Goldman report.