Microsoft axed 4,800 employees on July 6, representing roughly 2.1% of its global workforce. The Xbox gaming division bore the heaviest blow, with 1,600 jobs eliminated immediately and plans to cut a total of 3,200 roles, about 20% of the division’s headcount.
The timing couldn’t have been more politically combustible. In the same year, US Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 2,273 H-1B visa applications from Microsoft. Cutting domestic workers while onboarding foreign talent is the kind of optics that writes its own outrage cycle.
Xbox’s ‘most significant restructure in history’
New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma described the overhaul as a “reset” designed to correct what she called an “unhealthy” business environment within the gaming unit. The restructuring includes studio spinoffs alongside the staff reductions.
The planned 3,200 total cuts would make this the most significant restructure in Xbox’s history. Microsoft has cut roughly 9,100 jobs across the 2025-2026 period, part of a broader pattern of workforce reductions that the company has framed around AI-driven efficiency gains.
