Microsoft offers buyouts to about 60,000 employees, including some executives

Microsoft is making a new buyout offer to a much broader group of employees, this time including some executives, GeekWire reported on Monday. The Voluntary Exit Offer is open to about 60,000 people in participating teams in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and India, the company told GeekWire. That is about a quarter of a workforce that numbered 223,000 at last count.

Chief people officer Amy Coleman wrote in a memo that the offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a choice to make that transition now with support, and gives participating organizations another way to adapt their workforce. Microsoft did not project how many people will accept. It told GeekWire it expects a much smaller share than the roughly 30 percent who took an earlier voluntary retirement offer aimed at longtime employees.

Microsoft's count of 223,000 full-time employees as of June 30 was down from 228,000 a year earlier, and that figure came before July layoffs. A spokesperson described the new offer as one of several ways the company is adjusting to changing business needs, and said it is not a sign that Microsoft needs fewer employees.