Microsoft lays off 9,000 employees in one of its largest workforce reductions

In a significant restructuring move, Microsoft has announced the layoff of approximately 9,000 employees, accounting for nearly 4% of its global workforce. The company confirmed the development on Wednesday, July 2, marking one of its largest rounds of job cuts in recent months.

According to a report by CNBC, citing a Microsoft spokesperson, the layoffs are part of ongoing organisational changes aimed at positioning the company and its teams for success in a dynamic market. The job cuts span multiple countries and include employees across various teams and levels of experience.

Microsoft typically enacts structural shifts at the end of its fiscal year, but this announcement came unusually early, just two days into the new cycle. The company has made successive workforce reductions throughout 2025, cutting 1% of its staff in January, over 6,000 jobs in May, and approximately 300 in June.

This latest development follows Microsoft’s previous large-scale layoffs, including the elimination of 10,000 roles in 2023 and nearly 18,000 jobs in 2014, its largest to date.

While specific reasons for the layoffs were not disclosed, industry reports suggest that growing adoption of automation and AI, particularly in software development, may be contributing factors. Coding assistants and AI-driven tools are increasingly influencing internal workflows. Microsoft has yet to confirm the launch of its own coding assistant but is reportedly adapting its operations in response to such technological shifts.

The company continues to invest heavily in AI, competing with other tech companies such as Google and Meta, who are also restructuring teams while expanding AI capabilities and talent acquisition efforts.