Microsoft offers buyouts to about 60,000 employees

What happened

Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to roughly 60,000 employees, about 27% of its workforce, Fortune reported. Chief People Officer Amy Coleman announced the program in a Monday memo that Microsoft published on its blog. Eligible employees include senior leaders, up to vice presidents. Coleman framed it as a choice for people who may be considering a future outside the company.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Fortune that severance will depend on tenure and differ by country under local labor laws. U.S. staff who take the offer get at least eight weeks of pay, and their stock keeps vesting, along with healthcare and career services. The deadline to accept is the first week of December for staff in the U.S., UK, Canada and India, and anyone who signs up leaves on Dec. 31. Asked how many people it expects to accept, the spokesperson pointed to similar programs at other large tech companies that saw 3%-5% uptake.

This is Microsoft's second buyout. In April it offered a similar program to long-tenured employees, its first. Fortune also reported that Microsoft cut about 4,800 jobs in July, after more than 15,000 layoffs in 2025, with most recent cuts centered in its Xbox unit. Microsoft had about 223,000 employees at the end of June, 5,000 fewer than a year earlier. It reported $41 billion in capital expenditures for the quarter ending in June and projected $145.3 billion in total spending for its 2026 fiscal year. Microsoft reports first-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

What this means for job seekers

The Fortune excerpt does not say how the buyouts will affect Microsoft's hiring of students or new graduates. The offer is aimed at eligible current employees, including senior leaders. Talentdpro's database shows 58 open roles on talentdpro for Microsoft as of Oct. 26. The most common locations are Redmond, Washington; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Mountain View, California. The top role categories are IT/Software, Research & Science and Core Engineering. See the full list on the Microsoft page on talentdpro.

The listings include internships such as business program management in Redmond, software engineering in Tulsa and product management in Cambridge. Three steps are practical for early-career applicants. First, read each posting's location and start details before applying, and apply only where you meet the stated requirements. Second, match your resume to one of the listed categories, such as IT/Software, and point to specific projects or coursework. Third, keep a parallel list of applications at other employers, since large tech companies are trimming headcount, according to Fortune, and one employer's plans can change quickly.