Microsoft has announced a voluntary exit program offering buyouts to approximately 60,000 eligible employees globally to reduce labor costs and fund heavy investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Microsoft has announced a voluntary exit program offering buyouts to approximately 60,000 eligible employees globally to reduce labor costs and fund heavy investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Microsoft has announced a voluntary exit program offering buyouts to approximately 60,000 eligible employees globally to reduce labor costs and fund heavy investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Microsoft announced on Monday that it will now offer voluntary exits to around 60,000 eligible employees, or roughly 26 per cent of its global workforce. The offer applies to employees in India, the US, the UK and Canada. Employees in positions up to a vice president can qualify for the buyout programme.

Eligible employees will receive an email explaining the offer details, and December 1 is reportedly the deadline for confirmation. The company reiterated that financial support and career planning resources will be provided to the employees. Severance pay is expected to follow the standard procedure: one month’s base salary for each year of service, with health insurance and career transition services.

The Big Tech member explained that the offer gives employees the choice to pursue a future outside the company with proper support while allowing the company to save on labour costs.

Why is the company offering voluntary exit programmes?

Microsoft’s big move comes right after its voluntary retirement programme earlier this year. In May, the tech giant offered exits to about 8,750 people from its US workforce. In July, the company cut around 4,800 jobs, about 2 per cent of its global workforce, including workers from its Xbox video game section.

According to the company’s 2026 annual report, it now has 223,000 employees worldwide, down from 228,000 at the end of 2025. The product research and development unit observed the maximum number of job cuts at 3,000, along with 1,000 job cuts from the general and administration department. The operations unit retained the number of employees.

Bloomberg reported that employees in some business units, including the data centres, sales and marketing units, will be ineligible for the new buyout programme.

“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,” said Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s executive vice president, in her latest blog post.

The labour cost reduction is expected to fund its massive AI investments. In July, CFO Amy Hood said Microsoft plans to spend $175 billion on AI infrastructure, including data centre investments. The company has also invested $17.5 billion in India and $10 billion in Japan, as part of its AI expansion in Asia.

The company carries approximately $31.07 billion in long-term debt as of 2026. It boasts a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company relies far less on external borrowing for its AI expansion than many of its tech peers, such as Amazon and Oracle.

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