Microsoft Lays Off 150 Azure Employees as Part of Ongoing Workforce Reduction

It appears that 150 Microsoft Azure employees were not immune to the layoffs impacting the tech industry, as The Information first reported. We’ve learned they lost their jobs as part of Microsoft’s plan to shed about 10,000 workers.

As Channel Futures reported last month, Microsoft told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it would complete the thousands of layoffs by the end of the third fiscal quarter of 2023.

“Microsoft attributes its need for layoffs to changes to its hardware portfolio and the need to consolidate its office leases. There does seem to be more that Microsoft is considering, though, especially on the cloud side,” wrote Channel Futures’ Kelly Teal in January.

More than 3 Years of Experience

As for the recent Azure layoffs, sales personnel weren’t the only ones impacted.

Gaurang Deshmukh is a software test engineer who was laid off from Microsoft. He posted the news on LinkedIn.

“With an extremely heavy heart, I have to announce that I was one of the employee impacted by Microsoft layoffs,” Deshmukh said. “Despite this setback, I’m extremely grateful for my experience at Microsoft as software test engineer in Azure for Operators A4O organization for over three years. I have grown professionally and personally while working with the most kind, talented and hard-working people every day. I am leaving with a great deal of gratitude for the truly ecstatic experience and the impactful work I was able to provide.

Will Schink worked as a digital specialist for the Dynamics and Power Platform at Microsoft. He was also laid off last week, he wrote on LinkedIn.

“It’s been a wild ride at Microsoft. I’ve sold Modern Work, Azure and Dynamics, all in just 3.5 years! It’s been a fun journey understanding and selling the entire Microsoft suite, with only more success with every step I took there,” Schink said. “Heck, I created $1.5 million in pipeline in just the past four months!”

The layoffs have impacted a wide stretch of Microsoft’s workforce and will continue to do so. HoloLens, Surface and Xbox teams have been affected. LinkedIn employees also were let go this week.