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Microsoft is flattening its workforce by cutting layers of management and low performers.
The tech giant will lay off approximately 3% of its global workforce, across all levels, teams, and geographies, as part of a company-wide restructuring effort. The layoffs, reported on May 13, 2025, are the biggest cuts at the company since the elimination of 10,000 roles in 2023.
The latest round of layoff has primarily affected software engineers, who made up 40% of the approximately 2,000 roles eliminated in its headquarters of Washington state, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. Product and technical program management positions were also hit hard, accounting for nearly 30% of job cuts there.
A Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC that one objective of the cuts was to reduce layers of management. “We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” a statement from the company reads.
LeadDev has contacted Microsoft for comment.
Among those impacted was Gabriela de Queiroz, who had been serving as director of AI at Microsoft for Startups since 2023, following her promotion in October 2022 from the position of principal cloud advocate.
In a now viral post on X and LinkedIn, she wrote: “These days, no matter how hard you work, how much you advocate for your company, or how much results and visibility you bring – whether it’s helping Microsoft become a trusted name among AI startups or driving initiatives to make it a better place to work for hundreds of people – none of that makes you immune to restructuring. To those also affected – you’re not alone. We are at least 6,000.”
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The great flattening in action
Microsoft’s decision follows the announcement of performance based layoffs in January 2025, affecting fewer than 1% of its 228,000 employees.
In the same month, Amazon announced that it was cutting employees after identifying “unnecessary layers” in its organization.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced plans to restructure the workforce by increasing the ratio of individual contributors to managers by a minimum of 15% by the close of the first quarter of 2025.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced in December that the company would cut 10% of its managerial positions.
London • June 16 & 17, 2025
Speakers Gergely Orosz, Camille Fournier and Lara Hogan confirmed.
In 2023, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg initiated the broader trend of managerial layoffs. “I don’t think you want a management structure that’s just managers managing managers […] managing the people who are doing the work,” he said.
Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke shortly after issued a memo announcing a 20% reduction in staff. He explained this was to “balance of crafter [Shopify’s word for individual contributor] to manager numbers” had become “unhealthy, just like it is in much of the tech industry.”
Strong results
The latest layoffs come after Microsoft reported in its first quarter of 2025 a reported revenues of $65.6 billion — a 16% increase from the previous year of when revenues were $56.5 billion — which beat Wall Street expectations.
Microsoft’s chief financial officer Amy Hood said on an April earnings call that the company was focused on “building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers”.
