Microsoft on Wednesday said it would lay off 10,000 employees in the coming months as the economic downturn continues to punish US tech giants.
The job cuts will affect slightly less than five percent of employees and follow in the wake of similar moves by Facebook owner Meta, Amazon and Twitter which have announced thousands of layoffs in the once-unassailable tech sector.
The firings come after a major hiring spree in the tech industry when the companies scrambled to meet skyrocketing demand for their products as people went online for work, shopping and entertainment during the coronavirus pandemic.
Microsoft's filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission said the cutbacks would result in a charge of US$1.2 billion in their next results announcement on January 24 when the Redmond, Washington-based company is forecast to post its slowest revenue increase in years.