Microsoft Corp has decided to freeze pay for all full-time workers this year to help it navigate macroeconomic ructions, becoming the latest US tech leader to tighten its belt during a time of mounting uncertainty.
Chief executive officer Satya Nadella said in an internal memo the move is necessary to generate “enough yield” to invest in the major platform shift toward artificial intelligence (AI).
Microsoft had already raised compensation last year, he added.
Photo: Reuters
However, the company would consider raising rates for hourly workers while maintaining a bonus and stock award program without “overfunding” it, Nadella said without elaborating.
“As a company we recognize that navigating both a dynamic economic environment and a major platform shift requires us to make critical decisions in how we invest in our people,” a company spokesperson said.
Insider first reported on the pay freeze earlier on Wednesday.
Tech firms have downsized and slashed expenses globally to account for tepid consumer demand and shore up finances ahead of a potential recession. This year, Microsoft began cutting thousands of jobs, joining peers from Meta Platforms Inc to Amazon.com Inc.
The software leader last month reported quarterly profit and sales that topped projections, and is making massive bets on AI.
Those include a reported US$10 billion of new investment into OpenAI Inc and a Bing Internet search chatbot — a strategy to juice sales of Azure cloud services, search ads and office-productivity programs.
“As a senior leadership team, we don’t take this decision lightly, having considered it over several months,” Nadella said in his memo. “This year the economic conditions are very different across many dimensions, including customer demand, the labor market, and the investments required for the next cycle of innovation.”
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS