Microsoft has approximately 220,000 employees and has issued separation agreements to 60,000, allowing voluntary resignation with severance. Of course, not everyone will leave—perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 will depart. Either way, Microsoft already laid off 6,000 employees in July. The median compensation for Microsoft employees—including salary and stock—is around $200,000. When factoring in associated costs like office space, each employee costs roughly $300,000 annually. Laying off 10,000 employees saves $3 billion per year; laying off 30,000 could save $10 billion annually. Microsoft’s capital expenditures this year are approximately $170 billion, all invested in Azure—these computing resources can be converted into revenue. Currently, GPU depreciation is amortized over six years, but in practice, their useful life far exceeds that. In truth, layoffs have minimal impact on cash flow—but finding a justification for them is inevitable. This is likely also why MSFT’s stock has remained so resilient.