The Microsoft software and internet giant laid off some 1,000 of its workers this week across multiple divisions, according to a source who spoke with Axios.
The move was also reported by numerous news outlets and tech industry publications.
As of June 30, the company had a total global workforce of approximately 221,000, including 122,000 in the United States and 99,000 elsewhere around the world.
Microsoft is not the only technology company trimming back its personnel; Meta (Facebook), Twitter, Peloton, Netflix, Coinbase and Snap have also slashed jobs in recent months.
Companies that have slowed or frozen hiring include Meta, Lyft, Google, Apple and Spotify, according to Fox Business.
Reasons cited for the moves include rising inflation, the energy crisis in Europe and higher interest rates.
Microsoft has offices in 13 Chinese cities and employs about 9,000 workers in the country. The company said in a Chinese-language WeChat post last month quoted by the New York Post that it aims to employ more than 10,000 workers there in the next year.
Former Homeland Security deputy assistant secretary Paul Rosenzweig said Microsoft’s expansion in China poses risks, the NY Post reported.
“The greater the investment that Microsoft or for that matter any other American company make in China, the more likely they are to become victims of any future economic conflict,” Rosenzweig said. “It cannot be a comfortable place for an American company to be held up as the pride of cooperation with the Chinese communist regime,” he said.
