Microsoft voluntary buyout offered to 60,000 employees amid AI costs

Microsoft on Monday announced a new voluntary buyout program that will cover about 60,000 eligible employees who can choose to leave the company with financial support and other career planning resources.

The buyout program covers more than a quarter of Microsoft’s global workforce, as the company said it had about 223,000 full-time employees around the world as of June 30, 2026, in its annual filing. The voluntary exit program was first reported by Business Insider and follows Microsoft’s rollout of a voluntary retirement program earlier this year.

Amy Coleman, Microsoft EVP and chief people officer, said in a memo posted on the official Microsoft blog that the buyout program “reflects an important part of how we’re evolving our approach to change: creating greater flexibility and, where possible, more ways for employees to shape their next chapter.”

The company’s voluntary exit program is time-limited and available to eligible employees at level 70 and below. Microsoft’s announcement indicated that eligible employees would be notified via email about the details of their voluntary exit offer within a few hours of the announcement.

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Microsoft’s voluntary buyout program is limited to certain organizations within the company. (Cesc Maymo / Getty Images)

Some organizations within Microsoft are participating in the program, which covers eligible employees in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada and India.

Microsoft indicated that the participation of different organizations within the company is based on each business unit’s priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.

Coleman added that the voluntary exit offer is new to Microsoft and that the company will learn from it and added, “At the same time, we’ll keep helping people focus on the work that matters most, build new skills and, where it makes sense, find new opportunities across Microsoft.”

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Microsoft is facing costly investments in the artificial intelligence buildout. (Jason Redmond / AFP via Getty Images)

“There is no one-size-fits-all approach for every team or every employee,” Coleman said. “These are a few of the ways we’re trying to meet different business needs while continuing to create opportunities for our own people to grow and contribute.”

“My promise is to continue to provide clarity, listen and learn and keep improving,” she added.

Earlier this year, Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to about 7% of its U.S. workforce, or about 9,000 employees.

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It also announced cuts affecting about 4,800 jobs in July, or about 2.1% of the global workforce, as it overhauled its Xbox gaming business and divested up to five studios to boost returns in the division.

Microsoft and other tech giants are facing costly investments in the buildout of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure like data centers and in the chips that are used to train models, which have prompted moves to cut costs in other areas of their operations.

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Reuters contributed to this report.