Microsoft continues a turbulent year with first ever voluntary buyouts

Microsoft just reached a new corporate milestone — but not the good kind.

The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant is set to offer voluntary buyouts to a portion of its U.S. workforce, CNBC reports. That might not be a big deal for many companies, but this is the first time Microsoft has tried to cut headcount in this way since the company's founding 51 years ago.

In order to be eligible, an employee must be at the senior director level or below, and their age plus years of employment need to add up to at least 70. The program also excludes anyone with a sales incentive plan. The details of the buyout package remains unknown, but reportedly people who are eligible will hear more on May 7.

“Our hope is that this program gives those eligible the choice to take that next step on their own terms, with generous company support,” chief people officer and executive VP of Microsoft Amy Coleman said in an employee memo obtained by CNBC.

While Microsoft has never offered voluntary buyouts (at least in the U.S.) before, the company did lay off thousands of employees in 2025. It's a turbulent time at the Windows factory; the company is investing plenty in data centers and other AI ventures. Some analysts are growing suspicious of how much this massive AI investment is actually worth for Satya Nadella's company.

Meanwhile, many other Microsoft divisions seem to be in flux. The Xbox division just underwent a massive and somewhat surprising leadership change, the Surface laptop division just implemented a huge price increase on its products, and Microsoft itself continues to be a major target of the BDS boycott list for its partnership with the Israeli military.

Other than that, though, everything is fine in Redmond.