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In 2022, Microsoft has 221,000 full-time employees around the world.
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In 2022, Microsoft’s worldwide revenue was approximately US$198.27 billion.
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The company founded by Bill Gates, laid off 10,000 employees in a cost-cutting move.
The news today runs with gunpowder. That seems to be happening to Microsoft, after being the center of attention for recent layoffs in its workforce, a report highlights that The tech giant’s top executives hosted a concert by music legend Sting at the luxurious World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday night.
Recall that the company founded by Bill Gates said late last year that a drop in computer sales staff and the strong dollar were a drag on its expansion and a problem for its quarterly earnings.
Well, this week that message seems to be more present when Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees in a cost-cutting moveas the company faces declining consumer spending and a difficult macroeconomic outlook.
Well, in these last months they are not the first layoffs of the company, because last year, Microsoft already carried out more than one round of layoffs, but never announced how many positions it cut. The July 2022 round of mass layoffs affected less than 1 percent of the total workforce of more than 200,000 people, the company had stated at the time.
Controversy over Sting concert
Now a controversy puts the brand in the eye of the storm, as just hours before the embattled tech giant announced a massive round of layoffs, top officials reportedly staged a performance of music legend Sting at the luxurious World Economic Forum in Davos.
According to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the event, Sting performed in “an intimate gathering of about 50 people” which included top Microsoft executives and touts a sustainability theme.
The star-studded event reportedly had a “sour note” for some employees as they face the uncertainty of job cuts and worsening conditions in the technology sector.
Likewise, the source mentioned to the American media that the workers complained about the important presence of Microsoft in the Davos proceedings, where billionaires and elites fly in each year to rub shoulders and talk about major global issues.
In that sense, it was revealed that the company’s participation included two appearances on stage by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, in a discussion in which he warned that the technology industry “I would have to do more with less.”
In a lengthy blog post explaining the move, Nadella wrote that the company was “living times of significant changes” and described the round of pink ballots as “difficult, but necessary.”
Nadella noted that affected workers will receive support, including a “pay above market gravity”six months of medical care and other benefits.
However, Sting’s performance struck down some of the staff as an example of bad optics.
Maybe that’s what Satya meant in his blog post by saying “It’s showtime!” wrote a Microsoft employee on the anonymous forum Blind, which verifies users based on their work email addresses.
Brands and companies are being well observed, and even more so when the global economic outlook is affecting everyone, and they have to make strategic moves to try to survive.
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