San Francisco, October 18: Tech giant Microsoft has laid off nearly 1,000 employees across multiple divisions of the company, media reports said. According to Axios, the move is yet another example of large tech companies cutting jobs after earlier moving to slow or freeze hiring as the broader economy cools. The tech giant declined to say how many jobs had been cut, but a source said the layoffs numbered under 1,000, as per the report.

"Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly. We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead," Microsoft was quoted as saying in a statement. The cuts occurred across a variety of levels, teams, and parts of the world. Multiple laid-off workers turned to Twitter and Blind, among other online forums, to share that their job had been cut.

The report noted that nearly all the major tech firms have slowed headcount growth, with many freezing all but essential hires. Meta, which had already frozen hiring, plans to cut budgets in most divisions, with layoffs expected. Intel Layoffs 2022: Chip-Maker Plans Major Job Cuts by October 2022 End As PC Sales Nosedive Globally, Says Report.

Meanwhile, in the past few months, the tech giant has laid off nearly 2,000 employees globally. Other tech companies that have either laid off employees or slowed hiring in the current economic downturn include Google, Meta, Oracle, Twitter, Nvidia, Snap, Uber, Spotify, Intel and Salesforce, among others.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 18, 2022 07:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).