Microsoft Workforce Buyouts Amid Record Revenue
Fiscal year 2026 was another record year for the company. Revenue was $331.8 billion, up 18 percent year-over-year. Microsoft Cloud revenue was $214.4 billion, up 27 percent year-over-year. Azure grew 41 percent year-over-year and surpassed $100 billion for the first time, while Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats. And operating income was $155.2 billion, up 21 percent year-over-year.
Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year:
- Revenue was $92.3 billion and increased 19%
- Operating income was $45.9 billion and increased 21% (up 22% in constant currency)
Microsoft debuted a new reporting structure with two segments this quarter. The first, Agents and Infra, did most of the heavy lifting. Revenue from this unit was $76.8 billion, up 25% year over year. Microsoft Cloud revenue jumped 30% year over year to $63.9 billion, while Azure revenue grew 48% year over year to $33.2 billion.
Microsoft only expects a fraction of the 60,000 employees who received buyout offers Monday to accept those packages and leave the company.
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The buyouts, which cover roughly a quarter of the company’s workforce, come as it tries to control its labor costs while avoiding layoffs.
Ex-MSFT here. I resigned in June, I was an L63. I spent 8 years at MSFT across two stints. My last 18 months at MSFT were deeply unproductive. Constant reorgs, the work not being aligned to my capabilities and unfortunately just the general feeling that I was under worked and had very little opportunity for career advancement.
[…]
In the end, I left off my own volition. In my last 6 months, I did very little work, if at all any. I thought why am I being paid so handsomely for such little and trivial work. I did try interviewing in a few different teams but didn’t make it (Azure Files and Hyperscale DB). If I had stayed, I would have been swiftly laid off or if I was lucky enough last long till this buyout.
Earlier this year, Microsoft offered voluntary retirement to 8,750 employees. About 2,625 (30%) accepted.
It then laid off another 4,800 employees in July, followed by hundreds more in September.
A high performer at Microsoft (200/200 means they got 200% of target bonus and stock compensation) was advised by their manager to take the voluntary retirement program.
Assuming the previous 30% acceptance rate, Microsoft needs 18,000 people to leave the company. There will be layoffs otherwise.
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