Meta announces layoffs of approximately 8,000 employees (10% of workforce) and will leave 6,000 positions unfilled to fund AI investments, with projected costs of $162-169bn next year. Meanwhile, Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to around 8,750 US workers as both tech giants grapple with escalating AI infrastructure expenses.
Microsoft is initiating its first-ever voluntary employee buyout program, offering retirement to approximately 7% of its U.S. workforce. This move, announced via memo, targets employees whose age and years of service total 70 or more, excluding some senior roles. The company is also adjusting stock reward distribution and simplifying manager review processes.
Microsoft announced a voluntary buyout program for about 7% of its U.S. employees, the first such offer in the company's 51-year history. The one-time retirement program targets workers at senior director level and below whose years of employment plus age total 70 or higher. The move comes as the tech industry faces major changes from AI, with Microsoft ramping up capital spending on data centers while software stocks decline due to competition from AI coding tools.
