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Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 staff, including in Britain, while it pours $175bn into the AI arms race

Microsoft's 6,000 UK employees are among those eligible for the voluntary buyout scheme, which excludes staff in sales, marketing and data centres.
Microsoft's 6,000 UK employees are among those eligible for the voluntary buyout scheme, which excludes staff in sales, marketing and data centres.

Microsoft's chief people officer Amy Coleman confirmed in a Monday memo that around 60,000 staff — roughly 27 per cent of its global workforce — can apply for voluntary redundancy packages, with a deadline of early December and departures expected on December 31. The offer covers workers in the US, UK, Canada and India at vice-president level or below, spanning Xbox, Windows, HR, finance and its Copilot AI divisions.

Staff in sales, cyber security, quantum computing and data centres are excluded from the buyout programme.

Microsoft is spending $175 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026, up nearly 120 per cent year on year, with CEO Satya Nadella reorganising the entire business around AI and 'super intelligence'.

Wednesday's quarterly results will be investors' first opportunity to judge whether the AI spending splurge is paying off.

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