Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, the company confirmed on October 26, 2026. Chief People Officer Amy Coleman announced the Voluntary Exit Offer in a note to staff that Microsoft also published on its website. TechCrunch described the move as part of Microsoft's effort to cut costs and rework its workforce for the AI age.
Eligible employees are at the vice president level and below on select teams in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom. Bloomberg reported that Xbox, Windows, Copilot and Finance are among the participating divisions. Employees working in data centers, sales and marketing are excluded. Microsoft said participation depends on each business unit's priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.
The terms are similar to Microsoft's standard severance. The offer lets the company reduce headcount without mass layoffs. Microsoft reported 223,000 employees at the end of June, so the eligible group covers more than a quarter of the global workforce.
Earlier this year Microsoft offered buyouts to retirement-age employees. More than 30% of the roughly 8,750 eligible workers accepted that offer.
Coleman said the Voluntary Exit Offer is new for the company and that Microsoft will learn from it. She also said Microsoft will keep helping people build new skills and find opportunities elsewhere in the company. Fox Business linked the program to the cost of Microsoft's AI infrastructure buildout.
Eligible employees were scheduled to receive an email with a link to their offer details on Monday.
Source: TechCrunch - https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/26/microsoft-offers-buyouts-to-around-60000-employees-reports-say/