The American IT giant justified its decision by the economic uncertainty and the priority changes of its customers. Microsoft had already carried out two sets of layoffs, in July and October.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
Microsoft will dismiss 10,000 employees by the end of March, invoking the economic uncertainty and the priority changes of its customers. A decision that shares a little more a tech sector already affected by several major social plans. The American computer giant, who thus separates just under 5 % of his workforce, also plans to modify his portfolio of computer equipment and reduce the number of workspaces.
“These are the kind of difficult choice that we have made throughout our forty-seven years of existence to remain an important business in a sector that does not forgive those who do not adapt to changes of Platform, “said Microsoft boss Satya Nadella, in a letter to the employees.
These savings measures will represent $ 1.2 billion in the second quarter shift accounts that the group must reveal on January 24. Its turnover is expected to increase by only 2.7 % over a year, a very low rate for the computer giant accustomed to two-digit growth.
If “customers have accelerated their IT expenses during the pandemic”, they are now trying to optimize them to “do more with less,” said Nadella in the letter. Companies around the world also show “prudence” in the face of the risk of recession while the progress of artificial intelligence shakes the sector, he advances.
two series of layoffs, in July and October 2>
Microsoft had initially resisted thanks to the dynamism of remote computers (Cloud), but companies tend to limit their investments for a few months for fear of a degradation of the economic situation.
Microsoft had already carried out two series of layoffs, one in July, which brought according to the company, on less than 1 % of the workforce. The second took place in October and aimed at less than 1,000 people, according to the information site Axios.
But other large groups in the tech sector have decided to reduce their workforce in recent months, like Amazon and Salesforce which announced respectively in early January the dismissal of around 18,000 and 8,000 employees . Meta, the Facebook and Instagram parent company, also initiated a social plan affecting 11,000 jobs.
These massive layoffs intervene after a wave of hires in this sector during the pandemic, when companies were trying to respond to the explosion of the demand for tech products for telework and entertainment at home.
Microsoft, which according to its site currently has 221,000 employees worldwide, had hired 75,000 since 2019, recalls Dan Ives, from Wedbush, in a note. These layoffs are not a “surprise” in his eyes. The group “will continue to spend strategically in the cloud, mergers and acquisitions [with the planned buyout of the video game publisher Activision], Paris on innovation, and continue to accelerate on innovation while reducing the Non -strategic areas (material, etc.) “, predicts the analyst.