Microsoft Lays off 1000 Employees, Some of Them From the Xbox Division

Well, this a nice way to start the day off! It seems that Microsoft is letting go of about 1000 employees across multiple departments, including the Xbox console gaming division and the Microsoft Strategic Missions and Technology organization (though we don’t know the exact number for each department).

The news comes to us from Business Insider, though the article itself is paywalled. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, “Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly. We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.”

In July, Microsoft stated it planned to lay off less than 1% of its workforce, which amounts (or rather, amounted) to roughly 221,000 employees across the globe. This layoff round reduces their workforce by roughly 0.4-0.5%.

On the one hand, cutting costs during a period of crisis (which current times certainly count as) makes sense. On the other hand, this is Microsoft, one of the biggest tech companies in the world we’re talking about. It’s not a [visibly] struggling company, with their stock value reaching its highest ever point late last year.

Considering how, previously, Activision Blizzard laid off 800 employees right after they registered their best financial quarter ever, employees’ job security seems to be quite often traded for increasing revenue by cutting down operational costs. One key difference here is the sheer magnitude of Microsoft’s total workforce, which dwarfs Activision Blizzard. In their case, 2018’s big layoff equated roughly 7% of their total number of employees. One could then argue that Microsoft’s layoffs, while affecting a few hundred more people, are less shocking in number when compared percentage-wise.

What do you think of these lay-offs? Are they warranted, or were they avoidable? Let us know your opinion down below!