"Customers want to optimise their digital spending to do more with less and exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one. At the same time, the next major wave of computing is being born with advances in AI.”
https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1615749864955969539?t=V39G7WUpPp8w1I3xLHsa5A&s=19
While Microsoft laid-off less than 5% of it's workforce, it has made people concerned for the future. It is to be noted that Microsoft expanded it's workforce considerably (an approximate 36% increase) in the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. This was in response to increased demand for online work and entertainment facilities caused by the COVID-19 lockdowns all over the world.
https://twitter.com/aatilley/status/1615926254611619840?t=0sR3b_QNvGD-V2fCsb5kFQ&s=19
Furthermore, last year Microsoft had confirmed and put into effect plans to purchase Activision Blizzard, a worldwide developer, publisher and distributer of interactive entertainment for various gaming consoles and PC's and more, for $68.7 billion. It is most well-known for it being the company behind the near-legendary video games series Call of Duty.
But while Microsoft laid-off 10,000 employees, most of the employees that they hired during and after the pandemic are still there. In addition, a considerable number of lay-offs are from the staff that is working on a HoloLens goggles for the US Army that Congress refused to fund and from their gaming divisions such as Bethesda Game Studios, Xbox Game Studios and 343 Industries.
The company more recently invested $10 billion in OpenAI, the creator of the viral AI bot ChatGPT just before Microsoft laid-off 10,000 employees. On a more ironic note, the company event hosted an event in Davos for it's employees which also featured a performance by Sting. The theme of that event was sustainability.
https://twitter.com/TylerWalpole/status/1615789248694599705?t=2LmqxD-7ZHKoSdc9xQDh5A&s=19
CEO Nadella claimed that Microsoft laid-off employees due to customers becoming more cautious and essentially AI replacing the next workforce but the truth is much more simpler. Microsoft simply bit off more than it could chew and is now making 10,000 employees pay for its actions. They over-hired post-pandemic because they wanted to take full advantage of the increased demand during that time.
This was nothing but a cold-hearted profit-making move by Microsoft and the price is the livelihoods of 10,000 blameless employees.