Microsoft Offers 39 Weeks' Severance After Cutting 4,800 Jobs as AI Spending Climbs
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Jul 7
Microsoft Offers 39 Weeks' Severance After Cutting 4,800 Jobs as AI Spending Climbs
1 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Jul 7
Summary
Up to 39 weeks of base pay is being offered to most laid-off U.S. Microsoft employees, with a minimum 60 days on payroll before separation.
The package scales by seniority and tenure: levels 64 and below get one week per six months of service, levels 65 to 67 get two weeks, while executives receive separate terms.
Six or 12 months of stock vesting and six months of paid health coverage are also included for many workers, with another 12 months of optional COBRA coverage.
The terms follow Microsoft's move to cut about 4,800 employees—2.1% of its global workforce—with sales and Xbox hit hardest as the company reins in costs.
That cost cutting comes alongside roughly $190 billion in capital spending this year, largely for AI infrastructure, and the severance appears richer than recent packages at Salesforce, Oracle and Meta.