Microsoft plans first voluntary retirement program for US employees
A view of a Microsoft office in Shanghai, China, on April 8, 2025.
YingTang | Nurfoto | Getty Images
Microsoft As the tech industry grapples with major changes brought about by the artificial intelligence boom, the 51-year-old software giant will offer voluntary buyouts to some U.S. employees, a first for the company.
About 7% of U.S. workers are eligible, according to a person familiar with the plans who asked not to be identified because the number is not publicly available. The one-time retirement program, announced in a memorandum on Thursday, will be available to U.S. workers at the senior management level and below whose combined years of employment and age are 70 or higher.
Eligible employees and their managers will be provided with detailed information on May 7. Those with a sales incentive plan cannot participate.
Microsoft is increasing capital spending on data centers to provide cloud clients with the computing power to run generative AI models. Like their tech peers Alphabet And Amazon they do the same. Meanwhile, software stocks are shrinking as coding tools from Anthropic and others threaten to disrupt established companies.
Last year, Microsoft cut some costs through multiple layoffs. As of June 2025, the company had 228,000 employees, 125,000 of whom were in the United States.
“Our hope is that this program gives eligible individuals the option to take the next step on their own terms, with generous company support,” Microsoft executive vice president and chief people officer Amy Coleman said in a memo viewed by CNBC. he wrote.
Microsoft is also changing the way it distributes stock to employees for annual rewards. The company will no longer allow executives to tie stock directly to cash bonuses.
That way, “managers will have more flexibility to recognize high performance in a meaningful way,” Coleman wrote.
The company also simplifies the vetting process for executives; so employees will be able to choose from five pay options instead of nine.
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