Microsoft Layoffs Hit Over 600 Workers in Washington State

Overall, Microsoft's layoffs are impacting a little less than 5% of its workforce.

Edward Gately, Senior News Editor

February 10, 2023

2 Min Read
Seattle
Shutterstock

Microsoft has pink-slipped more than 600 workers in Washington state as part of its layoffs announced last month impacting 10,000 employees.

The Microsoft layoffs are confirmed in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed with the Washington state Employment Security Department. They layoffs are happening at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, and offices in nearby Bellevue and Issaquah.

Microsoft is among the more than 20 companies doing business in the channel that have cut workers since the start of the year. This week alone, Dell TechnologiesSecureworks, Zoom and GitHub have announced layoffs, in all impacting thousands of workers.

Keep up with our telecom-IT layoff tracker to see which companies are cutting jobs and the ensuing channel impact.

According to Bloomberg, employees are being cut from Microsoft’s Surface devices, HoloLens mixed reality hardware and Xbox units.

Layoffs Among ‘Hard Choices’ Microsoft Has Made

Last month, Microsoft announced job cuts impacting a little less than 5% of its workforce. The move is in response to macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the job cuts in a blog. The layoffs are taking place this quarter.

Nadella-Satya_Microsoft.jpg

Microsoft’s Satya Nadella

“These are the kinds of hard choices we have made throughout our 47-year history to remain a consequential company in this industry that is unforgiving to anyone who doesn’t adapt to platform shifts,” Nadella said last month.

In October, Microsoft layoffs impacted close to 1,000 workers. That came as the software giant expected its fiscal first-quarter revenue growth to slow.

On Thursday, we reported that Microsoft-owned GitHub is initiating layoffs impacting 10% of its workforce and is also going fully remote.

According to TechCrunch, GitHub had about 3,000 employees, meaning the layoffs are impacting about 300 workers. The company is also closing all of its offices as their leases end. The layoffs started immediately and will continue through the next several months.

Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Edward Gately or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Read more about:

MSPs

About the Author

Edward Gately

Senior News Editor, Channel Futures

As senior news editor, Edward Gately covers cybersecurity, new channel programs and program changes, M&A and other IT channel trends. Prior to Informa, he spent 26 years as a newspaper journalist in Texas, Louisiana and Arizona.

Free Newsletters for the Channel
Register for Your Free Newsletter Now

You May Also Like