MYNORTHWEST NEWS

Seattle-area layoffs: Microsoft, REI start 2024 with workforce reductions

Jan 26, 2024, 5:10 AM | Updated: 9:21 am

microsoft rei layoffs...

Illuminated facade at dusk with logo and sign at the Recreational Equipment Inc (REI) sports and outdoors equipment store in Dublin, California, March 12, 2018. (Photo: Smith Collection/Getty Images)

(Photo: Smith Collection/Getty Images)

Multiple Washington-based companies have announced layoffs in January, impacting thousands of workers. This week’s announcements come after a slew of major companies made similar cuts earlier this month, including Riot Games, Google, Discord and Twitch.

Microsoft parts with video game employees

Microsoft announced Thursday it will lay off 1,900 employees working for Activision Blizzard and Xbox — two video game workforces — this week.  ZeniMax employees will also be impacted by the cuts, the company said.

The Microsoft gaming division has approximately 22,000 employees in total, meaning these January layoffs are equivalent to eliminating 8% of the staff.

More on WA layoffs: Jack and Spike on Amazon cutting jobs from Twitch, other divisions

Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion — in an all-cash transaction valued at $95.00 per share — in 2022, making Microsoft the third-largest gaming company by revenue at the time of the purchase. Activision Blizzard and King Studios previously produced titles including “World of Warcraft,” “Diablo,” “Overwatch,” “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush.” Blizzard president Mike Ybarra also decided to leave after more than 20 years with the company. Blizzard co-founder and chief design officer Allen Adham also left his position.

Blizzard Entertainment’s untitled survival game was also shelved in wake of the layoffs. The game would have been Blizzard’s first new original property since the launch of “Overwatch” in 2016, and the first original property since the merger.

Meanwhile, Xbox has been a project within Microsoft since 2001. Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of home video game consoles, videogames and a streaming service called Xbox Cloud Gaming.

“The people who are directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they’ve accomplished here,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer wrote in a company memo obtained by The Verge. “We are grateful for all of the creativity, passion and dedication they have brought to our games, our players and our colleagues.”

Microsoft previously announced layoffs this time last year, with the cuts affecting 10,000 employees.

REI trims its workforce

REI will be letting go of 357 employees this month, according to REI CEO Eric Artz, who shared a message with workers in a memo that “the coming days are going to be tough,” according to KIRO 7 and The Seattle Times.

“We let go of a lot of good people,” Artz told employees. “We’re going to do everything we can to support them, but that will not make this moment any easier.”

Two-hundred of the layoffs are at the company’s headquarters, while 121 of the jobs lost were at distribution centers, 30 jobs organizing trips and classes and six in various sales and customer service departments.

More on layoffs: T-Mobile’s upcoming layoffs to impact over 400 Bellevue employees

Artz stated that the company is reducing the size of its senior leadership team by 22% in 2024. No non-headquarters store-specific roles will be impacted by these layoffs, which came after financial declines over the last four quarters.

“While we were able to outperform this trend for much of the last year, it caught up to us in Q4 and we now expect conditions to remain very challenging throughout 2024,” Artz added.

Similar to Microsoft, REI laid off more than 160 people in February of last year due to economic conditions.

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.

MyNorthwest News

Bellevue police investigators want to find the driver of this SUV, who was involved in a hit-and-ru...

Tom Brock

Bellevue police seeking hit-and-run driver involved in serious accident

Police are looking for a hit-and-run driver in a crash that severely injured a woman.

3 hours ago

Three people are dead after a driver struck them early Saturday morning while trying to outrun poli...

Tom Brock

Teen driver trying to outrun police hits and kills three people

A driver who tried to outrun police in Everett has struck and killed three people.

1 day ago

Photo: A Boeing sign is pictured outside the Renton Production Facility one day before striking uni...

Julia Dallas

Furloughed Boeing employees to get paychecks back

Boeing workers who were furloughed will be getting their paychecks back.

2 days ago

Photo: Suspects shot out of a stolen Chevy Tahoe in Pierce County....

Julia Dallas

Watch: Pierce County deputies shot at in midst of stolen SUV arrest

An arrest in Pierce County could have turned deadly after suspects in a stolen SUV shot at deputies in Parkland.

2 days ago

Gavel law courts...

Luke Duecy

More charges of sexual assault aimed at Sumner basketball coach

The former Sumner High School head basketball coach charged with sexually assaulting his players is being arraigned on more charges.

2 days ago

Image:The Seattle Police Department was on the scene in the Chinatown-International District Friday...

Steve Coogan

Suspect accused in series of stabbings makes first court appearance

A suspect accused of stabbing at least five people in Seattle's Chinatown-International District made his first court appearance.

2 days ago

Seattle-area layoffs: Microsoft, REI start 2024 with workforce reductions