Media reports released on Tuesday showed that Microsoft plans to cut jobs, especially in the human resources and engineering departments.
The expected layoffs would be the latest in the U.S. technology sector, where companies including Amazon.com Inc and Meta Platforms Inc have announced retrenchment exercises in response to slowing demand and a worsening global economic outlook.
“From a big picture perspective, another pending round of layoffs at Microsoft suggests the environment is not improving, and likely continues to worsen,” Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said.
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The company had 221,000 full-time employees, including 122,000 in the United States and 99,000 internationally, as of June 30, according to filings.
Microsoft is under pressure to maintain growth rates at its cloud unit Azure, after several quarters of downturn in the personal computer market hurt Windows and devices sales.
It had said in July last year that a small number of roles had been eliminated.
In October, Microsoft laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions.
The cuts will be significantly larger than other rounds in the past year.