Eligibility does not mean departure. If 10% accept, 6,000 people would leave, exceeding last year's net headcount fall of 5,000.
Microsoft told staff on Monday that some employees can take a paid exit offer. About 60,000 people, more than a quarter of the company, are eligible. Each percentage point of take up is 600 people.
Eligibility does not tell us how many people will leave. Take up should land at 5 to 10 percent, or 3,000 to 6,000 people. The offer has no age or tenure screen, and Microsoft's retirement buyout earlier this year drew about 3,000. The offer works as a cost control tool for a company whose revenue is growing far faster than its headcount.
Who can take the offer
Chief People Officer Amy Coleman announced the Voluntary Exit Offer in a memo on 26 October. It is open to eligible employees in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States, at level 70 and below.
Level 70 includes senior leaders, so the eligible group extends beyond junior staff. A spokesperson put the eligible number at about 60,000 in comments to Business Insider. The figure is a ceiling set by Microsoft's choice of teams, levels and countries.
Not every business takes part. Sales organisations, certain engineering teams and some corporate functions are out. Microsoft ties participation to each business's priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs. Staff have until early December to decide and leave at the end of the year.
Terms are similar to Microsoft's standard severance. In this year's US layoffs that meant at least 60 days of base pay. For most staff it was up to 39 weeks, three quarters of a year, based on seniority and tenure.
Levels 64 and below received one week of base pay per six months of service, and levels 65 to 67 two weeks. A spokesperson said there are no plans for another buyout at this time.
The 60,000 is 27 percent of the 223,000 staff at 30 June. The share is higher among the staff Microsoft actually opened the offer to. The 223,000 also counts sales teams that are excluded and employees in every country outside the four.
How many people might leave
Microsoft ran a smaller programme earlier this year. Its Voluntary Retirement Program covered US staff at level 67 and below whose age and years of service added to 70 or more. Nearly 9,000 people were eligible, about 7 percent of 125,000 US staff.
About one third of them took it, in line with Microsoft's expectations, a person familiar told Business Insider. That is roughly 3,000 people, 2.4 percent of the US workforce. Business Insider reported that the buyout let Microsoft cut a smaller share of staff than last year.
The retirement buyout is a weak guide to the new offer. It was US only and chosen by age and service. The exit offer is set by country, level and team, and it is 6.7 times larger by headcount.
Most of the 60,000 have less reason to go than the near retirees did. Five percent is 3,000 people, 1.3 percent of staff and the retirement buyout's headcount. Ten percent is 6,000, above the year's net fall of 5,000.
At 20 percent the figure is 12,000. A take up of one third would remove 20,000 people, 9 percent of staff. That is the top of the scenarios.
About 60,000 Microsoft employees are eligible for the voluntary exit offer, 27 percent of 223,000 staff. At 5, 10, 20 or 33 percent take up, 3,000, 6,000, 12,000 or 20,000 people leave, against a net headcount fall of 5,000 in the year to June 2026.
View data
| Case | People |
|---|---|
| Net headcount fall, year to June 2026 | 5000 |
| If 5 percent accept | 3000 |
| If 10 percent accept | 6000 |
| If 20 percent accept | 12000 |
| If one third accept | 20000 |
| Eligible for the offer | 60000 |
Even the 10 percent case is large next to recent cuts. Six thousand departures would exceed the net headcount fall of 5,000 in the year to June. They would also exceed the 4,800 job cuts Microsoft announced in July, 2.1 percent of global staff.
The top case is larger than any recent round. Twenty thousand would be four times the year's net fall. It would also exceed the 15,000 roles Microsoft cut in May and July of last year, 6,000 and 9,000. The July 2025 round of 9,000 was about 4 percent of staff, against 9 percent for the top case here.
The filings show how revenue and staffing have changed. Revenue for the year to June rose 17.8 percent to $331.8 billion. Headcount fell from 228,000 to 223,000 over the same year. Amy Hood told the July earnings call that headcount had declined 2 percent.
Revenue per employee has risen. The 10-K and the year earlier filing give the exact counts. Revenue per employee, which is revenue divided by year end headcount, rose from $1.24 million to $1.49 million, up 20 percent.
Research and development took 3,000 of the 5,000 lost jobs, falling from 80,000 to 77,000. Sales and marketing and general and administration each lost 1,000, and operations stayed flat at 89,000.
Costs rose far more slowly than revenue. Operating expenses across the three cost lines, research, sales and administration, grew 7.4 percent in the year. For the September quarter Hood guided operating expenses to $16.8 billion to $16.9 billion, growth of 7 to 8 percent.
The fall was mostly American. US headcount went from 125,000 to 121,000, and international headcount from 103,000 to 102,000. So four fifths of the net fall came in the US.
An exit offer lets each employee choose, where a layoff targets roles. Microsoft controls which teams are open, but not which people inside an open team accept.
What the next results can show
Microsoft reports September quarter results on 28 October at 2:30 pm Pacific. Hood will guide the December quarter's operating expenses on that call. She guided the September quarter, $16.8 billion to $16.9 billion, before the offer existed.
The expense figure alone cannot show how many people leave. Severance runs from 60 days to 39 weeks of pay, so the same bill could mean many leavers or few.
Employees decide by early December and leave at year end, so any cost of the offer falls in the quarter to 31 December. In July Hood named severance expense and the retirement programme as items that moved results. If she names the exit offer the same way on Wednesday, it is large enough to move the quarter.