By @byalexhalverson
Publication Date: 2026-01-08 14:00:00
Microsoft dismissed rumors that mass layoffs are coming to the company this month, after reports suggesting another round of deep cuts was in the works swirled online this week.
Multiple websites aggregated “reports” earlier this week that Microsoft was planning to cut between 11,000 and 22,000 roles in January, affecting the tech giant’s cloud, gaming and sales teams.
That speculation elicited a flat denial, and several online exchanges, from Microsoft’s longtime spokesperson.
Replying to a post on the social media platform X, Microsoft’s Chief Communications Officer Frank X. Shaw said the reports were “100 percent made up / speculative / wrong.”
In another reply to an aggregator saying they’d bookmark the post in the event Microsoft later confirmed layoffs, Shaw shot back “I eagerly await.”
The basis for those reports appeared to be users on online forums like Reddit and the tech industry-focused Blind, a site where tech workers post anonymously.
When reached…
