Microsoft may be preparing layoffs at its Azure division to cut costs, specifically at the Azure for Operations and Mission Engineering teams. Exactly how many employees are involved is not yet known, although rumours suggest it could involve 1,500 people.
Big Tech companies are busy cutting costs, which often leads to employee layoffs. According to sources, Microsoft is also busy with this and may be preparing layoffs within Azure, writes Business Insider.
As mentioned, this involves the Azure for Operations and Mission Engineering teams. The first team is concerned with monitoring, fixing and troubleshooting traditional IT operations and environments.
Mission Engineering is part of Azure for Operations and deals with designing and implementing no-ops/low-ops working methods to provide basic protection at the operational level. Examples include running a server configuration for Azure.
No comment
Microsoft itself has not yet commented on the rumours, but does indicate that it is always working to optimize its own organization. Organizational changes and adjustments to with employee base are part of this, the tech giant says.
In January 2023, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees, followed by subsequent layoffs in July and October of last year. Also, 1,900 Activision and Xbox employees were already laid off in January of this year as a direct result of the final acquisition of Activision Blizzard in late 2023.
More layoffs in tech world
Other tech companies are also cutting staff. Google laid off 200 employees in early May, Cisco announced thousands of layoffs in February due to disappointing orders, and in March Dell Technologies laid off 13,000 employees by focusing more on AI.
Also read: AI is often just a good excuse for layoffs