Microsoft offers voluntary retirement to about 7% of US workers

[NEW YORK] Microsoft is offering voluntary retirement to thousands of its employees in the US.

About 7 per cent of the US workforce will be eligible for the buyouts, according to a person familiar with the planning. Microsoft has never previously done buyouts of this scale, said the person, who requested anonymity to discuss an internal matter.

The company had 125,000 employees in the US as of June 2025. That would make about 8,750 workers eligible for the programme.

The offer was announced to employees on Thursday (Apr 23), according to a memo seen by Bloomberg. Eligible workers include personnel whose years of service plus their age totals 70 or more, excluding some senior roles or those on sales incentive plans, according to the memo from chief people officer Amy Coleman.

“Our hope is that this programmeme gives those eligible the choice to take that next step on their own terms, with generous company support,” Coleman wrote in the memo.

Big tech companies have been looking for ways to trim their expenses as they pour billions into building the necessary infrastructure for their artificial intelligence services. Microsoft is racing to construct data centres around the world.

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Reducing headcount has been a common approach to save cash. Microsoft has instituted massive layoffs that have hit in recurring rounds since early 2023. Other top AI spenders like Oracle and Meta Platforms have done similarly sweeping cuts over the last year.

Earlier on Thursday Microsoft announced it would spend US$18 billion on AI cloud and infrastructure in Australia, its biggest-ever investment there, after previously committing US$10 billion over four years for AI in Japan. BLOOMBERG