Here is where things stand as of Monday, October 26, 2026. The newest item is a buyout offer, not a layoff. Bloomberg reported that Microsoft will offer buyouts to about 60,000 workers, and a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that eligible staff are at vice president level and below on select teams in the US, Canada, India and the UK. AFP says some groups, including some data center, sales and marketing staff, are excluded. Tech-insider.org reports that eligible staff have until early December to decide and that departures are planned for the end of 2026, but I could only find that in one source, so treat the timing as provisional.
The earlier 2026 steps were these. In April Microsoft offered its first voluntary retirement program to roughly 8,750 eligible US employees, and GeekWire reports about 30% took it. On July 6 Microsoft confirmed 4,800 job cuts, about 2% of its workforce, with 1,600 of them at Xbox, according to GeekWire and CNBC. On September 28 a state WARN filing showed 277 more positions eliminated in the Puget Sound region, as TheStreet reported.
For context, Microsoft cut about 15,000 jobs across two rounds in 2025, and the company says the 2026 changes are tied to its AI spending. Figures for the buyouts and layoffs come from company statements and press reports, and none of the sources give a final count of how many people will actually leave.
🕒 As of October 2026
