Microsoft lays off 10,000 as major companies continue job cuts

Microsoft is laying off 10,000 employees, nearly 5% of its workforce, in what the tech company calls a "response to macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities," according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday.

The workers will be laid off by the conclusion of the third fiscal quarter this year, the company said.

Microsoft also plans on changing its hardware portfolio and consolidating office leases.

"We’re living through times of significant change," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a memo to staffers.

"First, as we saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we’re now seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less," Nadella said.

He also said companies are exercising "caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one."

Nadella also called the decisions "difficult but necessary."

Other major companies are also cutting jobs despite rapid growth during the pandemic. 

Amazon said it will be laying off 18,000 employees, The Associated Press reported. Facebook parent company Meta announced in November it would lay off 11,000 workers.

Asset management firm BlackRock said last week the company would cut 500 jobs. Banking giants Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are laying off as many as 5,600 workers, according to Forbes.