Microsoft announces next round of layoffs in Washington
Feb 10, 2023, 9:08 AM | Updated: 10:28 am
Microsoft announced another round of layoffs Thursday, eliminating 617 jobs in Washington state.
The layoffs will impact workers in Redmond, Issaquah, and Bellevue, according to the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) portal.
Microsoft, Amazon lays off almost 900 employees in Western Washington
An additional 900 workers in Washington are being laid off as per an announcement made in January, and these cuts bring the total number of laid-off Microsoft employees to 1,495.
Last month, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company was seeking to align its cost structure with projected revenues and where customer demand remained the strongest.
In an official blog, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shared with employees that the company was responding to “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities” and would begin laying off some employees immediately.
The company plans to lay off 878 employees in the Redmond, Bellevue, and Issaquah offices starting March 20, according to information posted on the WARN portal.
The company said it would also change its hardware portfolio and consolidate its leased office locations.
Microsoft did not say which jobs are being cut but that the company is still hiring in “key strategic areas,” including building a “new computer platform” using artificial intelligence.
Tech layoffs aren’t ‘going to get better quickly,’ analysts say
“When I think about this moment in time, the start of 2023, it’s showtime – for our industry and for Microsoft. That means every one of us and every team across the company must raise the bar and perform better than the competition to deliver meaningful innovation that customers, communities, and countries can truly benefit from,” Nadella said in the announcement. “If we deliver on this, we will emerge stronger and thrive long into the future; it’s as simple as that.”
These layoffs are set to begin in late March and early April.
Amazon, another Washington-based company, announced 18,000 layoffs in January, with a majority of role eliminations in Amazon Stores and PXT organizations.
