Category: Microsoft Company

Microsoft has achieved a historic milestone, for the first time in its 50-year history to exceed a market capitalization of $4 trillion. This follows strong financial results that surpassed analyst forecasts and the release of the inaugural earnings report for its Azure cloud division.

Microsoft has revealed the extent of its use of artificial intelligence (AI) in software development, noting that its AI-powered Coding Assistant plays a central role in code reviews. The tool, developed through collaboration between Microsoft’s engineering and AI teams, currently processes more than 600,000 pull requests (PRs) per month, representing nearly 90% of all PRs at the company.

The 9,000+ people laid off by Microsoft's gaming division in early July include 200 employees of the King studio, known for Candy Crush Saga. Reportedly, they were replaced with AI tools that the employees themselves helped develop and train.

Despite recent reports of widespread layoffs affecting multiple departments within Microsoft, internal sources state that the team responsible for developing the next generation of Xbox hardware remains mostly unaffected. Reportedly, the company continues to pursue its long-term vision for gaming hardware, including the development of a full-fledged successor to the current Xbox Series X console.

Microsoft has confirmed a new wave of workforce reductions. The Redmond firm is going to layoff approximately 9,100 employees, which is nearly 4% of the company’s total global personnel. Company's strategic priorities are named as the reason for the layoffs.

Microsoft shared that the Build 2025 developer conference will take place from May 19 to 22 this year. The conference will likely once again focus on artificial intelligence, the future of Copilot, new features for devices with an NPU, and new AI-powered Windows 11 capabilities. As usual, the company continues its tradition of hosting Build in May annually.

In 2021, Microsoft reportedly considered shutting down its Xbox division. At the time, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella "faced a choice" between acquiring game studios to fuel Xbox's growth or exiting the gaming business.

Microsoft has announced a new wave of layoffs within its Microsoft Gaming division, impacting around 650 employees. This follows a previous round of cuts several months ago, during which the company laid off 1,900 workers from Activision Blizzard and Xbox, and shut down several game studios, including Arkane Austin (half of Arkane Studios) and Alpha Dog Games.

Microsoft has carried out another round of layoffs. The layoffs affected development teams in several regions. However, the company declined to name the exact number of laid-off employees.

Microsoft has unveiled a lineup of scheduled sessions for the upcoming Build 2024 conference, with a particular focus on the "next generation of Windows on ARM" and the "all-new Windows AI feature."