Why Microsoft is laying off 10,000 workers

Microsoft cuts 10,000 employees amid recession fears; UK nurses strike for wage increases to keep up with inflation.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

What to know about the Microsoft layoffs

Saul Loeb /AFP via Getty Images

• On Wednesday, Microsoft announced it’s cutting 10,000 employees over the next few months amid changes in consumer spending and economic uncertainty. [NPR / Mary Wang]
• The layoffs will impact about 5 percent of Microsoft’s workforce as the company adjusts to falling demand for digital services. [CNN / Catherine Thorbecke and Hanna Ziady]
• Microsoft becomes the latest in a series of tech companies to order layoffs that reverse a pandemic-fueled hiring spree. In recent months, Amazon, Salesforce, and Meta have cut thousands of jobs. [Recode / Amanda Lewellyn]
• However, Microsoft has plans to invest billions to develop artificial intelligence and video games. [New York Times / Karen Weise]
• The tech giant is expected to announce missed revenue targets after taking a $1.2 billion hit to its second-quarter earnings due to severance and consolidation costs. [The Verge / Tom Warren]
• Despite the ongoing tech sector layoffs, the overall job market is still pretty strong: 223,000 jobs were added to the economy in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. [Vox / Madeleine Ngo]

📍 If you read just one story

Vox’s Peter Kafka explains how the Big Tech boom is over — and Wall Street knows it. [Vox / Peter Kafka]

UK nurses strike

• Thousands of British nurses walked off the job on Wednesday, demanding better pay to keep up the cost of living. [Reuters / Sachin Ravikumar and Ben Makori]
• They join teachers, train drivers, and other public health workers who have struck in recent weeks. UK inflation is above 10 percent, and energy prices remain high. [NBC News / Patrick Smith]
• The nurses have demanded their pay be increased 5 percent above inflation; the Conservative government argues that public sector wage hikes would drive prices even higher. [Associated Press / Jill Lawless]
• If no deal is reached, nurses will join ambulance workers for two more days of strikes in February in what could be the largest of the UK’s public health sector strikes so far. [BBC / Nick Triggle]

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A Republican aide who accused conservative activist Matt Schlapp of groping him last year is suing Schlapp and his wife, alleging sexual battery and defamation. [Vox / Ben Jacobs]

• A recent analysis found that brewing a cup of filter coffee generates more greenhouse gas emissions than single-use coffee pods because it uses more coffee and water. [Washington Post / Allyson Chiu]
• The government of Sint Maarten has approved a plan to euthanize its entire vervet monkey population in the next few years, citing concerns about the invasive species. [Guardian / Rebecca Bird]
• On Wednesday, a lawyer for Derek Chauvin, the former police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, asked a Minnesota court to overturn his client’s conviction. [NPR / Rachel Treisman]

“I don’t think this is symptomatic of a bigger issue. This is more along the lines of a normalization.”

[Brad Reback, an analyst at the investment bank Stifel, on the Microsoft layoffs / NYT]

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