Microsoft Confirms Plan To Cut Thousands of Employees This Summer

The layoffs could mean upward of 9,000 employees being let go based on the tech giant’s employee count from the end of the prior fiscal year.

Microsoft has confirmed plans to cut less than 4 percent of its total workforce, which could mean upward of 9,000 employees being let go based on the tech giant’s employee count from the end of the prior fiscal year.

The Redmond, Wash.-based vendor started its 2026 fiscal year Tuesday and had been laying off thousands of employees in the final weeks of its 2025 fiscal year, with reports of a 3 percent employee reduction from May.

“We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CRN in an email Wednesday.

[RELATED: Microsoft Layoffs To Hit 9,000 Employees, Including Salespeople: Report]

Microsoft Layoffs

Posts on Wednesday by users of Microsoft-owned LinkedIn showed that the cuts hit multiple employees in the tech giant’s Xbox gaming division, employees who worked with state and local governments and employees involved in customer success account management (CSAM).

Employees who were let go ranged from working with the vendor for about a year to spending more than 13 years with Microsoft, according to posts reviewed by CRN.

For solution providers, jobs vendors cut-in house could mean that work gets pushed to the channel. On the other hand, it could mean less resources for partners that specialize in the affected part of the vendor’s portfolio.

Microsoft Layoffs From May, June Cut Across Software Engineers, Product Managers, Windows, Copilot, Azure

CRN reviewed posts by dozens of employees on Microsoft-owned social media network LinkedIn in May and June to see what parts of the tech giant were affected by cuts as the fiscal year came to a close. The cuts spanned software engineers, product managers and workers related to the tech giant’s flagship Windows, Copilot and Azure offers. Some of the employees had worked with Microsoft for more than 20 years.

On June 2, Microsoft told Washington state it expects to lay off about 300 locals starting Aug. 1, according to records. GeekWire reported that software engineers were about 22 percent of the cut roles—followed by product management, technical program management and product marketing, each representing 10-plus percent of the cuts.

On May 13, Microsoft told the state that about 2,000 employees would get laid off starting July 12. Software engineers made up more than 40 percent of those cuts, according to Bloomberg. Product managers were about 20 percent, followed by technical program management at about 11 percent.

AI and Azure-related roles cut in May and June, as shown by LinkedIn posts, include:

Roles related to Microsoft 365 that have been cut in May and June include:

Windows-related employees caught up in the reduction in May and June include: