Microsoft Layoffs, More Shutdowns, and Unionsation Effort Amid Fears of More Mass Layoffs at Microsoft
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New numbers show Microsoft shed more than 16,000 jobs in nine months [Ed: Microsoft site; wait till you add up subsidiaries, temps, contractors]
Microsoft’s global headcount dropped to 215,500 people as of Sept. 30, a decline of more than 16,000 from its peak of 232,000 at the end of the 2022 calendar year — significantly exceeding the 10,000 job cuts announced by the company in January.
GeekWire calculated the new employment number based on Microsoft CFO Amy Hood’s statement on the company’s earnings conference call Tuesday that Microsoft’s headcount was down 7% year-over-year. Although the company didn’t give a new employment count as part of the earnings report, we used historical figures and prior disclosures to arrive at the number.
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Microsoft Shuts Down Industrial Metaverse AI Projects
Moreover, the news comes after Microsoft shut down Bonsai, another acquired start-up set to play a significant role in the firm’s industrial Metaverse. The acquisitions were initially led by Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott, who also directed the firm’s OpenAI partnership, which seemingly has taken attention away from Airsim and Bonsai – therefore leading to each studio’s closure.
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A New Push to Unionize Activision Blizzard Has Already Begun [Ed: No sane person would trust Microsoft]
The games industry is unstable at the best of times, and the trend toward corporate consolidation has only made it harder to get and keep a job. Even for workers who avoid the staggeringly frequent layoffs, conditions at studios of all sizes can be hostile if not outright abusive, as reports and lawsuits have shown us in recent years.
Some of the most high-profile controversies have centered on Activision Blizzard, including a still-ongoing lawsuit alleging a widespread culture of sexual harassment and abuse. But now that Activision Blizzard has been acquired by Microsoft, workers there are covered by a labor neutrality agreement that prevents management from interfering with attempts to unionize — and work is already underway to start organizing them.