FreeLLMMicrosoft offers voluntary exit to 60,000 staff while protecting AI teams
About a quarter of Microsoft’s 223,000 employees can take a severance package, with AI‑critical groups excluded.
The program covers employees in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom at vice‑president level or below.
Xbox, Windows, Copilot and Finance divisions are fully included, while data‑center, sales, cybersecurity and quantum computing teams are excluded.
This is the second voluntary program in 2026; earlier Microsoft offered buyouts to 8,750 U.S. staff in May and cut 4,800 jobs in July.
CFO Amy Hood indicated the company will spend about $170 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026, slightly below the original $175 billion target.
Sources
- Microsoft offers a quarter of its workforce voluntary severance while shielding AI-critical teams, The Decoder, 31 Oct 2026
- Introducing a Voluntary Exit Offer - The Official Microsoft Blog, blogs.microsoft.com (official), 26 Oct 2026
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