Microsoft lays off nearly 1,000 employees across various divisions

Microsoft saw its worst profits growth in two years in the three months through June

Microsoft has quietly terminated hundreds of employees across various divisions in a fresh round of layoffs.

A source with knowledge of the matter told Business Insider that the job cuts could impact around 1,000 employees in the company.

Many Microsoft employees also confirmed the news on social media.

In July, the tech giant announced intentions to cut a number of positions, affecting less than 1% of its entire workforce.

Microsoft, which has more than 200,000 employees, said at the time that the job cuts were part of a regular adjustment at the beginning of its fiscal year.

On Monday, Microsoft did not confirm a figure for the number of layoffs that have begun this week and whether they were part of the previously disclosed plans.

According to Business Insider, the Xbox division, Microsoft Strategic Missions and Technology, and the Mission Expansion cloud government team have all been impacted by latest job cuts.

KC Lemson, who has been with Microsoft since 1998, tweeted that she had just been let go from her Product Manager role in the office of the CTO.

Zach Kramer, who runs Microsoft's Mission Engineering team, told employees in an email that the group would be deprioritising work currently underway. "This is hard to do," Kramer said in the email.

Although layoffs were not explicitly mentioned in Kramer's email, it did state that executives will collaborate with people who were "part of a prioritisation change" to finish up current work and establish future actions.

A Microsoft spokesperson said: "Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly. We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead."

Microsoft is certainly not the first tech firm to be impacted by the global economic downturn this year.

Following growth that accelerated during the pandemic, the tech industry is something of a lull today. Many firms are halting or suspending hiring as a result of the broader global economic slowdown, increasing interest rates, and regulatory challenges.

Meta, Google, Apple, Twitter, and Amazon have all announced hiring freezes, blaming the uncertain global economic situation.

Google parent Alphabet has announced a hiring freeze beginning July, and Apple has said that it will slow its hiring process in 2023.

Data collated by Crunchbase shows that up until the end of July, approximately 32,000 people in the US tech sector across Big Tech companies have been let go in a wave of layoffs.

Companies that have laid off employees include Oracle, Meta, Salesforce, ride-hailing service Uber, the streaming behemoth Netflix, and a number of cryptocurrency exchanges.

Microsoft's latest move has come following multiple challenges for the company. It saw its worst profits growth in two years in the three months through June, attributed to a severe slowdown in its cloud business, falling gaming sales, and the effects of a strong dollar.

Amy Hood, chief financial officer of Microsoft, said after the release of financial results in July that the company would "slow the rate of hiring to focus on key growth areas."

Microsoft shares are down almost 30% so far this year, in line with the performance of tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index.