Microsoft offers buyouts to about 60,000 employees, more than a quarter of the company, as the AI bill comes due

Microsoft Chief People Officer Amy Coleman told employees on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, that the company is introducing a time-limited Voluntary Exit Offer, and about 60,000 people are eligible, according to people familiar with the matter cited by CNBC, Reuters and Bloomberg.

Layoffs make headlines; buyouts make spreadsheets. Offering an exit to 60,000 people at once lets Microsoft shrink payroll without the word "layoff," and lets the people most ready to leave do the deciding, which is kinder and, conveniently, cheaper to explain on Wednesday's earnings call. The team list is the tell: Xbox, Windows, Copilot consumer and back-office functions are in, while data centers, security and enterprise sales are protected. That is a company quietly moving its weight from the products you see toward the machinery behind its AI cloud. The open question is the one every buyout raises: the people who take the money are often the ones who could most easily get hired elsewhere.

In a memo to employees published on the Official Microsoft Blog on Oct. 26, 2026, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer Amy Coleman introduced a Voluntary Exit Offer for eligible employees in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States at level 70 and below. Level 70 is the rank cutoff Microsoft printed in the memo. A voluntary exit offer is a buyout: the employee chooses whether to leave, and the company pays them to go. Those lines are Coleman's, on Microsoft's blog.

Microsoft calls it a time-limited, voluntary program that gives eligible employees "the opportunity to leave Microsoft with financial support and career planning resources." Some organizations are offering it and some are not. Eligible employees were told they would get an email with details within hours. Those lines are the blog's.

About 60,000 employees are eligible, roughly 27% of Microsoft's 223,000-person workforce, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by CNBC. Roughly 27% is a bit more than one in four. Reuters and Bloomberg reported the same 60,000 figure. Those counts are from people familiar with the matter, as those outlets reported them. They are not a number Microsoft printed in the memo.

According to people familiar with the terms, Xbox, Windows + Devices, Copilot, AI experiences, finance, and human resources are participating, while some marketing, sales, commercial, security, data center, and quantum teams are not. CNBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, and The Verge each reported pieces of that list from people familiar with the matter. Microsoft declined to comment on those specifics, Bloomberg reported.

Employees must decide in early December, and those who accept will leave on Dec. 31, CNBC reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Early December is the choice. Dec. 31 is the last day for the people who take it.

The offer follows Microsoft's first-ever Voluntary Retirement Program in April, which was open to about 9,000 long-serving U.S. employees, and July layoffs of 4,800 people that hit Xbox and commercial sales hardest. The Verge reported the April count and the July impact. An internal HR note seen by The Verge says the new offer is not based on age, length of service, or performance. A retirement program and a layoff are different tools. This one is a choice, and the note says the choice is not a score of who has been there longest or who performed best.

Coleman wrote that the program "is new for us. We'll learn from it." Microsoft said on Oct. 7 that it will publish fiscal 2027 first-quarter results after the market close on Wednesday, Oct. 28. That date is Microsoft's, from its investor notice.

The picture is Microsoft's official portrait of Chief People Officer Amy Coleman, in a navy pinstripe blazer, smiling and leaning on a sofa arm. The credit is Inti St. Clair / Microsoft.

In plain terms, Coleman told employees on Monday that participating teams in the U.S., Canada, India, and the U.K. can offer a buyout to people at level 70 and below. About 60,000 people can take it, a bit more than a quarter of the company, according to people familiar with the matter. Xbox, Windows, Copilot, AI experiences, finance, and HR are in. Some sales, marketing, security, data center, and quantum teams are out. The choice comes in early December. People who say yes leave on Dec. 31. Microsoft reports earnings on Wednesday.