Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 employees to avoid more layoffs

On 26 October 2026 Microsoft Chief People Officer Amy Coleman told staff in an internal memo that about 60,000 employees—roughly 27% of the 223,000 global workforce counted on 30 June—were eligible for a new Voluntary Exit Offer. The program reaches internal Level 70 and below in participating teams in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom; Kenya is excluded, as are some sales, data-center, engineering, security, marketing and corporate roles. Packages equal standard severance: base pay by level and tenure, continued vesting of already-granted shares, fixed-period health coverage and career-transition help. Eligible employees got personalized emails within hours and must decide by early December (1 December in India), with departures at year-end. Coleman wrote that the offer gives people considering a future outside the company a supported choice to leave now and gives teams another way to adapt their workforce, adding that the Voluntary Exit Offer is new for Microsoft and that it will learn from it. CONTESTED: no contested claims found on the 60,000 figure or core terms. The April 2026 US retirement offer, open to senior director and below with age plus tenure of at least 70, drew acceptance from more than 30% of roughly 8,750 eligible staff at a cost of about $900 million; July cuts removed about 4,800 roles. Coleman said then that Microsoft would keep exploring similar approaches. The company has said the voluntary offer does not rule out further layoffs. How many will accept is undisclosed; next earnings are due 28 October 2026.