Microsoft denies reports of 10,000+ job cuts after layoff rumors circulate
Jan 9, 2026, 7:51 AM | Updated: 7:54 am
The Microsoft pavilion stands at the 2025 Hannover Messe industrial trade fair. (Photo: Sean Gallup, Getty Images)
(Photo: Sean Gallup, Getty Images)
Microsoft is denying that it plans to lay off more than 10,000 jobs in January after reports of mass layoffs began circulating.
After an initial post on an anonymous workplace forum, known as Blind, alleging that the tech conglomerate will cut 5-10% of its staff later this month, Microsoft Chief Communications Officer Frank Shaw publicly denied these reports.
— Frank X. Shaw (@fxshaw) January 8, 2026
If the anonymous report is accurate, 11,000-22,000 roles could be eliminated worldwide, representing approximately 5-10% of its workforce of roughly 220,000 employees. The report alleged the cloud, gaming, and sales teams would have been most impacted if these layoffs come to fruition.
Shaw has been engaging with news outlets and aggregators who remain cautious of the company’s denial.
“Bookmarked! Will revisit this and will change the post status to CONFIRMED layoffs in a few weeks,” one news aggregator stated on X, with Shaw responding, “I eagerly await.”
“It’s somewhat uncommon for us to be this clear on something like this,” Shaw stated, doubling down on X that no layoffs will occur in January.
Microsoft cut 15,000 roles in 2025, with the latest round of layoffs taking place last July — affecting 9,000 employees. Of the employees laid off, 3,200 were based in Washington.
This is a developing story, check back for updates
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