Microsoft's sales head Judson Althoff goes on two-month sabbatical

Tech giant Microsoft's top sales executive Judson Althoff has gone for a eight-week sabbatical.

Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althof will step away for eight weeks, a company spokesperson said. Althoff "will be back with his team in September," the spokesperson said. The sabbatical was timed to the close of Microsoft's fiscal year, which ends Monday.

Microsoft layoffs amid AI boom

It was reported earlier that Microsoft is planning to layoff thousands of jobs, particularly in sales division as part of an effort to trim its workforce amid heavy spending on artificial intelligence. Microsoft often makes major organizational changes near the end of its fiscal year.


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This is another round of layoff with a major workforce reduction this year for the Redmond-based tech giant, following 6,000 cuts in May and over 300 additional eliminations just weeks later. Bloomberg first reported the planned summer layoffs, with sources indicating the timing coincides with the start of Microsoft's new fiscal year beginning in July.

Microsoft's sales and marketing division employs approximately 45,000 of the company's 228,000 total workforce as of June 2024. The company signaled this shift in April this year when it announced plans to use third-party firms to handle more software sales to small and mid-sized customers. Sources told Bloomberg the reductions won't exclusively affect sales teams, though they will bear the brunt of the cuts.

Fresh layoffs at Microsoft

Microsoft said Wednesday it will layoff 9,000 employees. The move will affect less than 4% of its global workforce across different teams, geographies and levels of experience. “We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email.

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There have been several rounds of layoffs at Microsoft already this calendar year. In January, it cut less than 1% of headcount based on performance. The 50-year-old software company slashed over 6,000 jobs in May and then at least 300 more in June. As of June 2024 it employed 228,000 people. In 2023, it laid off 10,000.

Corporate America has kicked off a series of job cuts across sectors as companies attempt to streamline operations amid economic uncertainties, following similar cutbacks seen last year.

(With inputs from Reuters)