Microsoft notified another round of workers this week that they’re losing their jobs as part of the 10,000 layoffs announced by the company on Jan. 18.
A notice filed with the Washington state Employment Security Department indicates that this round impacts 617 workers at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., and offices in nearby Bellevue, and Issaquah.
That’s in addition to the 878 Microsoft workers previously notified that they were losing their jobs in the region, bringing the total to nearly 1,500 in the Seattle area.
The latest cuts are part of the 10,000 previously announced by the company globally, a Microsoft representative confirmed. Microsoft said originally that the layoffs would be made between January and the end of March, the end of the company’s fiscal third quarter.
The Surface, HoloLens and Xbox units were among those hit by the latest layoffs, according to a report by Bloomberg News, citing anonymous people familiar with the matter and a memo to employees from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. Bloomberg reported that the HoloLens cuts raise questions about whether Microsoft will move ahead with a third version of the mixed-reality headset.
Microsoft’s results for its fiscal second quarter revealed new levels of caution among the business customers responsible for a large portion of its business. Microsoft reported sluggish revenue growth, up 2% overall to $52.7 billion. Profits dropped 7% to $17.4 billion, not counting a $1.2 billion charge related to the cutbacks.
The 10,000 cuts are the second-largest workforce reduction in Microsoft’s history.
Microsoft is one of numerous tech companies to make layoffs in recent months, including Facebook parent Meta, Amazon, and Salesforce, in addition to many startups in the Seattle area and Silicon Valley.
