Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to about a quarter of its staff, exempting key AI units

Microsoft offers a quarter of its workforce voluntary severance while shielding AI-critical teams

Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, while excluding several units important to its AI strategy. The plan covers vice president level and below in the US, Canada, India and the UK. Xbox, Windows, Copilot and finance are included; data centers, sales, cybersecurity and quantum computing are excluded.

Why it matters: About a quarter of Microsoft's staff can take a buyout, with Copilot in scope but data centers and other AI-strategy units left out.