Job cuts 2026: Reports suggest Microsoft may announce job cuts in January

Microsoft may be preparing for this year’s first round of job cuts, according to a report by HR Digest. The report said that teams across Gaming, Azure and Sales are most likely to be impacted.

The information was first shared through a post on Blind, an anonymous professional networking platform. According to the post, between 5% and 10% of Microsoft’s employees could be affected in the third week of January.

The suggested rationale behind the move is a push to cut down on middle management layers and increase the individual contributor to manager (IC) ratios.


Microsoft has not officially commented on or confirmed the report. As of June 2025, the company had around 228,000 full-time employees globally. It had also laid off close to 15,000 employees last year.

The reports about potential layoffs come after Microsoft, currently valued at $3.64 trillion, announced plans last month to invest $17.5 billion in India over four years, from 2026 to 2029, to support large-scale adoption of artificial intelligence. This investment builds on an earlier commitment of $3 billion made in January 2025.

Separately, Reuters reported in September that Microsoft will require employees to work from the office at least three days a week. The deadline for that is nearing, and employees living within 50 miles of the company’s headquarters are expected to begin on-site work by the end of next month.