Hoy, January 18, 2023one year has passed since Microsoft announced its massive $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, the largest acquisition ever made in the video game industry.
A year later, the agreement is not even partially closed, after raising a lot of concern among market regulatory bodies around the world (even some against it, such as the FTC of the United States or the European Union).
But the worst thing is that today, January 18, 2023, Microsoft has confirmed something very different: a round of layoffs that will affect 10,000 employees.
Microsoft lays off 10,000 employees in times of change
Although some media had already echoed the layoffs hours before, Microsoft has confirmed the layoffs through a statement signed by Satya NadellaCEO of Microsoft.
Microsoft employs 220,000 people worldwide, so these cuts represent a reduction of less than 5% of your workforce. Some layoffs have already been notified today, and will take place until March 2023, with those affected in the United States receiving “above-market” compensation.
It is unknown how many of these cuts are from the Microsoft Gaming area or related to Xbox.
Despite the layoffs, Microsoft Corporation will continue to recruit for other “strategic areas,” and they will continue to invest capital and personnel in other areas where they anticipate growth. These are “times of change” for big tech, and the Redmonds want to assess the market and focus on their most successful businesses, while enduring inflation and component shortages.
Other large technology and information companies, such as Meta and Amazon, have also announced layoffs of 11,000 and 18,000 employees respectively in recent months.
According to The Verge, it is one of the largest mass layoffs Microsoft has made, ahead of the 5,900 in 2009 and only behind the 18,000 jobs that were cut in 2014 (many of them belonging to Nokia).
