Microsoft offers 8,750 voluntary buyouts

Microsoft offered voluntary retirement buyouts to some U.S. employees on April 23, 2026, in the first such program in the company’s 51-year history. CNBC reported that about 7% of Microsoft’s U.S. workforce was eligible, citing a person familiar with the plans, while the company did not publicly release a total. Reuters separately reported the move the same day, citing CNBC’s account of an internal memo and noting Microsoft declined to comment then. The offer applied to U.S. workers at the senior director level and below whose age and years of service add up to at least 70, according to CNBC. ### Which Microsoft employees were included in the offer? CNBC reported on April 23 that the one-time program covered U.S. employees at the senior director level and below whose combined age and years of employment equal 70 or more. Workers on sales incentive plans were not eligible, CNBC said, citing the memo and a person familiar with the plan. Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief people officer, wrote in the memo that the company hoped eligible employees could take “that next step on their own terms, with generous company support,” according to CNBC. Reuters cited the same memo details in its April 23 report carried by U.S. News. ### Where did the estimate of 8,750 positions come from? CNBC reported that about 7% of Microsoft’s U.S. workforce would be eligible for the program. Microsoft said in its annual reporting that it had 228,000 employees as of June 2025, including 125,000 in the United States, according to CNBC’s summary of the company’s headcount disclosure. That math puts the eligible pool at roughly 8,750 U.S. employees. Microsoft did not publicly confirm that figure in the reporting reviewed here, and CNBC said the number was not being made public. Reuters also reported that Microsoft declined to comment when asked about the plan on April 23. ### Did Microsoft say why it was doing this now? Microsoft did not publicly frame the program as a layoff. CNBC reported that the offer came as the company adjusted its annual rewards process and changed how managers distribute stock compensation. Reuters reported on April 23 that Microsoft, like other large U.S. technology companies, has been spending heavily on artificial intelligence. CNBC said the company had been ramping up capital spending on data centers to supply cloud customers with computing power for generative AI models. ### What else changed alongside the buyout offer? CNBC reported that Microsoft was decoupling stock awards from cash bonuses in its annual rewards process. Managers would no longer be required to tie stock directly to cash bonuses, CNBC said. The same memo also simplified manager review choices, reducing employee pay options from nine to five, CNBC reported. Reuters included those changes in its April 23 account and said Microsoft declined to comment at the time. ### Is there a financial cost attached to the program? Microsoft told investors on its April 29, 2026, fiscal third-quarter earnings call that its fourth-quarter outlook included about $900 million in one-time costs for the recently announced voluntary retirement program. The company said roughly $350 million of that amount would fall within cost of goods sold, according to the earnings-call transcript on Microsoft’s investor relations site. That disclosure gave investors the first company-issued estimate of the program’s near-term financial impact. Microsoft’s investor materials did not, in the source reviewed here, publicly restate how many employees were eligible. ### What happens next? CNBC reported that eligible employees and their managers were to receive details on May 7. The reporting reviewed here did not show Microsoft publicly updating the size of the eligible group after that date. Microsoft’s next scheduled checkpoint on the issue is likely to be its fiscal fourth-quarter reporting cycle, after the company told investors on April 29 to expect the one-time charge in its fourth-quarter outlook.