A first for Microsoft \u2013 the company is offering a one-time voluntary retirement package.<\/p>\n
According to a report from GeekWire, buyouts will be offered to senior directors and below, whose years of service at the company, plus age, add up to 70 or more.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very interesting because you usually don\u2019t expect technology companies to be using early retirement plans,\u201d said Joe Phillips, an economics professor at Seattle University. \u201cThen the other issue with these early retirement plans is you can\u2019t always control who\u2019s participating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Microsoft declined a request for comment from KIRO 7.<\/p>\n
Experts say the buyout could be a way to shed higher salaries as the company continues to invest more in AI.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe company is spending a lot of money gearing up for AI investing and so forth, and investors in the financial markets are getting a little bit impatient with all that increased expenditure,\u201d said Phillips.<\/p>\n
About 7% of Microsoft\u2019s U.S. workforce will be eligible for the early retirement deal \u2013 about 8,7500 employees.<\/p>\n
This, after Microsoft laid off 15,000 employees last year.<\/p>\n
Mark Harmsworth, with the Washington Policy Center, was a Microsoft employee for 15 years and says the buyout could be quite enticing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they retire some folks now before the income tax deadline in 2029, they would avoid, not on the capital gain side of things, but certainly the income tax side of things, so it would be appealing if you\u2019re thinking of working three or four more years in Washington,\u201d said Harmsworth.<\/p>\n
Eligible Microsoft employees are expected to be notified May 7 and given 30 days to decide.<\/p>\n
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