Microsoft Stock In Focus As Fresh Layoff Rumors Swirl: Comms Chief Dismisses Them As ‘100% Made Up’

• Microsoft is reportedly planning to lay off up to 10% of its global workforce, although the company has denied any such plan.  
• Tech workers and observers are closely watching, still, given that Microsoft typically announces such moves in January or July. 
• The AI push is leading to widespread changes within organizations, from redundancies and new focus areas.

Microsoft Corp.’s stock may draw increased investor attention when the market opens on Thursday, following widespread rumours of large-scale layoffs at the Windows-maker, with chatter on social media spiking. 

Fresh Layoff Rumours Swirling

Trade publication HR Digest reported on Tuesday that Microsoft could cut 11,000 to 22,000 jobs – about 5% to 10% of the global workforce – globally this month, mostly targeting middle management and non-core areas. The rumours have since been widely reported in the media, with retrenchment areas reportedly including Azure cloud teams, the Xbox gaming unit, and the global sales team.

Microsoft’s stock has risen more than 1% in each of the last two sessions. To be sure, the tech giant has denied the news. Microsoft’s chief communications officer, Frank Shaw, said on X that the reports are “100 percent made up / speculative/wrong.”

Microsoft has traditionally carried out large rounds of layoffs in January and July, typically after the holiday season or the close of a fiscal period. Its fiscal year runs from July through June. 

Dark Time For Tech Jobs

Microsoft reportedly cut about 15,000 jobs in stages over 2025, marking a sizable slashing following the company’s earlier move to eliminate about 10,000 roles in 2023.

The development highlights rising job insecurity – particularly in the U.S. tech sector – as heavy investment in AI and the changes it is bringing to organizations drive ongoing restructurings. There were a total of 1.17 million job cuts last year, the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when there were 2.2 million layoffs, according to a CNBC report. TechCrunch has a detailed list of layoff details across major tech companies.

AI’s Changing Corporate Priorities

Microsoft, on its part, has said its capital expenditure would exceed $80 billion in the current fiscal year, with a large part of that going toward data centers, chips, and AI tools. The push into AI and related offerings is said to be prompting the firm to shift focus away from certain non-core projects.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for MSFT shifted to ‘neutral’ as of early Thursday, up from ‘bearish’ the previous day. Microsoft is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter results on Jan. 28.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Read Next: OpenAI’s Legal Nightmare Isn’t Over: Judge Greenlights Jury Trial In Elon Musk’s Lawsuit Challenging For-Profit Shift

Share

·

Add us on