Microsoft Corp. has made a new round of job cuts as part of its efforts to reduce operating costs.

The company confirmed the move on Monday following a report in Axios. According to the publication, the job cuts were implemented “across a variety of levels, teams and parts of the world.” Fewer than 1,000 Microsoft employees are believed to have been affected.

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

The job cuts follow a second quarter in Microsoft experienced slowed revenue growth. Microsoft increased its sales by 12% year-over-year during the quarter, to $51.87 billion, which represents the slowest growth rate posted by the company since 2020. Analysts had expected Microsoft to report sales of $52.44 billion.

Shortly before releasing its second quarter financial results in July, Microsoft announced another round of layoffs that reportedly affected less than 1% of its workforce. The layoffs are believed to have affected multiple business units, including teams focused on customer products, partner solutions and consulting. Earlier, Microsoft slowed recruiting initiatives across the divisions that develop Windows and its suite of productivity applications. 

Microsoft had 221,000 employees as of June 30, up from 181,000 a year earlier. In July, Microsoft stated that it will carry out recruiting initiatives over the next year with an “additional focus to where those resources go.”

Other tech giants have taken similar steps over recent months. 

In July, reports emerged that Google LLC parent Alphabet Inc. was planning to slow the pace of its hiring efforts for the rest of the year. Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai stated in an internal memo that the company’s recruiting initiatives would focus on “engineering, technical and other critical roles.” Pichai added that Alphabet will also prioritize “consolidating where investments overlap and streamlining processes.”

Meta Platforms Inc., for its part, froze most of its hiring initiatives last month as part of an effort to reduce costs. A week before the announcement of the move, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was planning to cut expenses by at least 10% in the coming months. The cost-reduction initiative is expected to involve layoffs. 

Meta had 83,553 employees at the end of its most recent quarter, up 32% from a year ago. Google had 174,014 employees as of July 30. 

Photo: Microsoft