Microsoft offers out a quarter of its staff while AI spending climbs

The Voluntary Exit Offer covers roughly 60,000 employees across the US, Canada, India and the UK, which is 27% of Microsoft's 223,000-person workforce, as Microsoft confirmed to staff on October 26. Eligibility stops at vice-president level, Xbox, Windows, Copilot and Finance are reportedly in scope, and accepted exits land on December 31. Certain data-centre, sales and marketing roles are excluded entirely, which shows where Microsoft wants bodies and where it doesn't. This is the second voluntary-exit programme of the year after April's round, and it lands while the company is pouring money into AI infrastructure that analysts peg at up to $175 billion for 2026. A low acceptance rate would push Microsoft toward the involuntary cuts it's currently avoiding.