Microsoft (MSFT) News

Jul 31, 2026, 8:28 AM

Microsoft R&D jobs drop for second straight year as total headcount falls for first time in a decade

Microsoft’s annual report shows the company employed 223,000 people as of June 30, down 5,000 from a year earlier and its first annual decline since 2016. Product R&D roles accounted for most of the drop. Read More

Jul 30, 2026, 10:14 AM

Which Microsoft businesses are growing and shrinking, according to obscure table in regulatory filing

Overall, for the fiscal year ended June 30, Microsoft’s revenue increased 18%, or $50.1 billion, to $331.8 billion. Here is what a table buried in the 10-K shows about the real drivers of the business. Read More

Jul 30, 2026, 8:56 AM

Salesforce hires ex-Microsoft exec to lead Agentforce engineering amid string of departures

After nearly three decades at Microsoft, cybersecurity executive Krishna Kumar Parthasarathy has announced he is joining Salesforce as executive vice… Read More

Jul 29, 2026, 1:51 PM

Microsoft Azure tops $100B in annual revenue as record AI spending cuts into cash flow

Microsoft’s Azure cloud business grew 43% last quarter — well past its own forecast — and topped $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time. The cost: a record $41 billion in capital spending, with free cash flow down 23%. Shares rose after hours, reversing the recent pattern. Read More

Jul 27, 2026, 12:56 PM

Microsoft escalates the AI security race with ‘Project Perception’ and a new in-house model

Microsoft on Monday unveiled Project Perception, an AI cybersecurity system built to defend against AI-driven attacks, aiming to keep pace with both hackers and its technology rivals. It’s part of a broader escalation across the industry. Read More

Jul 27, 2026, 10:28 AM

Microsoft earnings preview: AI spending, cloud margins, and why the stock keeps falling

Microsoft reports fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year results Wednesday. A look at the key numbers to watch, including capital spending, Azure growth, cloud margins, Copilot adoption and the company’s first capital spending forecast for fiscal 2027. Read More

Jul 23, 2026, 7:43 AM

Microsoft 2.5: New security business chief Hayete Gallot on the company’s push into the agentic era

Hayete Gallot, who rejoined Microsoft in February to lead its security business, is pushing the company toward “agentic security” — systems that spot threats and act on them without waiting for a human. She’s doing it while building a new leadership team in a division where several VPs have exited in recent months. Read More

Jul 22, 2026, 9:36 AM

Microsoft 2.5: A new series on the people shaping the company’s future

Mary Jo Foley is launching a GeekWire series profiling the people and priorities behind Microsoft’s evolution. It’s a look at what she calls the “Microsoft 2.5” era, where cloud and AI dominate but the company still can’t walk away from Windows, Office, and enterprise customers whose products weren’t built around AI. Read More

Jul 22, 2026, 8:22 AM

Microsoft commits $60M to ‘Genesis Mission’ to help power Dept. of Energy’s AI-for-science push

The commitment includes Azure compute credits and a new internal program office, called SPARK, to coordinate the company’s work with DOE’s 17 national laboratories. Read More

Jul 20, 2026, 10:35 AM

Protesters confront Microsoft CSO over carbon goals and AI, disrupting climate event

A fireside chat with Microsoft Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa, moderated by GeekWire reporter Lisa Stiffler at a PNW Climate Week closing event, was derailed by protesters raising concerns about data center energy impacts. Read More

Jul 17, 2026, 8:18 AM

Seattle Sounders FC pay tribute to S. ‘Soma’ Somasegar, beloved tech leader and team owner

The Seattle Sounders honored the late S. “Soma” Somasegar before Thursday night’s match against the Portland Timbers, recognizing the Microsoft and Madrona leader, startup mentor, and Sounders minority owner whose impact extended far beyond Seattle’s technology community. Read More

Jul 13, 2026, 8:55 AM

Archives to avatars: Famed historian is moved by Microsoft’s AI-powered Theodore Roosevelt at new library

With the opening of the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, N.D., earlier this month, visitors can interact with a lifelike, AI-powered avatar of Roosevelt and ask questions about his life, leadership and legacy. Read More

Jul 10, 2026, 11:23 AM

The awkward timing of the Xbox CEO’s new Federal Reserve gig

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma was named to co-lead a Federal Reserve task force on jobs and productivity — three days after announcing 3,200 job cuts across Microsoft’s gaming division. The gaming press is having a field day. Read More

Jul 8, 2026, 6:00 AM

Former GitHub CEO’s startup Entire unveils its answer to the crush of AI coding agents

Former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke’s startup Entire is rolling out a distributed network for mirroring code repositories, making the case that centralized platforms like he once ran as part of Microsoft can’t handle the demands of AI coding agents on their own. Read More

Jul 6, 2026, 6:34 AM

Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs, about 2% globally, revamps salesforce and launches massive Xbox overhaul

Microsoft is cutting 4,800 jobs and overhauling its Xbox gaming business in what its new gaming CEO calls the biggest restructuring in Xbox history, while reshaping its sales and consulting division amid record AI spending and a 30% stock slide. Read More

Jul 4, 2026, 1:40 PM

Xbox at a crossroads: 25 years later, Microsoft is done playing around

Microsoft is pressing its Xbox business for growth and stronger profits after 25 years of losses and thin margins. Here’s the math and the strategy behind the reset, with Xbox layoffs expected as soon as next week. Read More

Jul 2, 2026, 12:43 PM

Nvidia recruits longtime Microsoft sales leader Nick Parker with $40M+ pay package

Nick Parker, a 26-year Microsoft veteran who led its worldwide commercial sales business, is joining Nvidia as executive vice president of worldwide field operations, succeeding retiring sales chief Jay Puri. The new role puts him in charge of global sales and customer relationships at the center of the AI boom. Read More

Jul 2, 2026, 6:06 AM

Microsoft unveils $2.5B ‘Frontier Company’ to embed AI engineers inside customers

“Microsoft Frontier Company” is a $2.5 billion initiative that will embed engineers inside customer organizations to build and run their AI systems. The move follows similar efforts by Amazon, OpenAI and Anthropic, and expands work Microsoft was already doing through its consulting arm and partners. Read More

Jun 30, 2026, 6:30 PM

Microsoft set for new round of job cuts next week, spanning Xbox, sales and consulting

Microsoft is preparing another round of layoffs, spanning Xbox, sales and consulting, as it holds down operating costs while pouring more than $100 billion into AI infrastructure. Read More

Jun 30, 2026, 10:00 AM

Choosing their own moment: Why these longtime Microsofties are taking the buyout

GeekWire spoke with several longtime Microsoft employees who are taking the company’s first-ever voluntary retirement program, about why they decided to leave and what they’re doing next. Their reasons range from timing and finances to fatigue with the pace of change, and their next chapters include startups, a doctorate, conservation work, a return to the trades and, yes, actual retirement. Read More

Jun 29, 2026, 10:44 AM

Mary Jo Foley: What’s a consumer-focused outsider doing at the helm of Microsoft’s AI push?

Jacob Andreou, a former Snap and Greylock executive, is leading Microsoft’s effort to turn Copilot into a ‘Super App’ that bridges consumer and enterprise AI. But Microsoft hasn’t had much luck with that kind of unification before. Read More

Jun 24, 2026, 12:07 PM

Transcript: Here’s what Bill Gates told lawmakers in his recent Epstein testimony

The U.S. House Oversight Committee on Tuesday released the transcript of a closed-door interview in which Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates answered lawmakers’ questions, under oath, about his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Read More

Jun 24, 2026, 5:00 AM

Microsoft says its data centers use 90% less water than its earliest facilities as public concern grows

Microsoft cuts data center water intensity by 90% and hits a major replenishment milestone as tech giants face growing public backlash over resource consumption. Read More

Jun 23, 2026, 11:50 AM

Microsoft’s next big thing for the cloud: an agent that keeps its cool when everything falls apart

Microsoft is promising relief to engineers who get woken up at 3 a.m. for outages and other cloud glitches: an… Read More

Jun 12, 2026, 2:15 PM

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Xbox: ‘We have to turn this into a sustainable business’

Microsoft has spent years subsidizing Xbox rather than profiting from it, CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged this week, as he addressed… Read More

Jun 10, 2026, 6:51 PM

‘This cannot continue’: Microsoft Xbox CEO calls for reset amid reports of looming job cuts

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told employees that Microsoft’s gaming business will end the fiscal year at about a 3% profit margin, saying years of heavy spending without revenue growth “cannot continue” — as Bloomberg and The Verge reported major job cuts coming next month.
Read More

Jun 10, 2026, 8:32 AM

Bill Gates goes to Capitol Hill in Epstein case as his ventures feel the effects

Bill Gates appeared voluntarily behind closed doors before House Oversight Committee investigators on Wednesday to answer questions about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, part of a larger turn in his image that has been rippling through the Seattle-area institutions he built and funds. Read More

Jun 10, 2026, 6:58 AM

Microsoft’s Brad Smith: Graduates jeering AI are ‘telling us what we need to hear’

Microsoft President Brad Smith, in a new blog post and a GeekWire interview, argues that AI will reshape work rather than eliminate it, and says the company’s own future depends on people staying employed. He acknowledges the tension with the tech industry’s job cuts while contending that fields like computer science are changing, not disappearing. Read More

Jun 7, 2026, 3:12 PM

Xbox Showcase 2026: New CEO’s first broadcast shows off ‘Gears of War,’ ‘Halo,’ ‘Spyro’ and more

New Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma’s first Xbox Games Showcase centered on upcoming releases and a return to console exclusives. Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution were confirmed as Xbox console exclusives, alongside release dates for Fable and Halo: Campaign Evolved and a new look at Seattle-based Undead Labs’ State of Decay 3. Read More

Jun 5, 2026, 8:22 AM

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman to leave Microsoft board after nearly a decade

Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock investor, will not stand for re-election to Microsoft’s board, ending a tenure that began in 2017. He told Satya Nadella he’s returning to “founder mode” to focus on his cancer drug-discovery startup, Manas AI. Read More