Microsoft is looking to reduce employee spending in an attempt to prepare for a challenging economic future.
Travel expenses, outside training and company gatherings are being targeted according to several people close to the issue.
During a recent Microsoft team meeting, food was paid for by Managers, rather than billed to the company as would have previously been standard.
These cuts come as Microsoft’s Q4 results were released late last month, where revenue increased 12%, sitting $51.9 billion (A$73.3 billion) and net income increased 2% to $16.7 billion (A$23.6 billion). These were below company estimates, marking the company’s slowest growth in two years thanks to a declining PC and video game market, a strong US dollar and a slowdown in their cloud business.
Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, who had previously told staff to monitor expenses and evaluate them before submission, said that “as [Microsoft] manage through this period, we will continue to invest in future growth while maintaining intense focus on operational excellence and execution discipline,” in response to the results.
Microsoft has been cutting costs in more ways than one, freezing the hiring process in some areas and cutting under 1% of its 181,000 workers, including in the Modern Life Experiences group.
The US tech giant is far from the only company looking to reduce expenses via a staff cull, as Netflix letting go 300 employees in June, and 150 in May.
Compared to the Nasdaq Composite Index, which dropped by around 15%, Microsoft shares did well and only dropped 3%. Tech companies with a dependence on ad revenue suffered much worse, such as Meta Platforms Inc, who had stock prices drop by 50%.