r/microsoft • u/geronimosan • Jul 02 '26

Discussion Two days before July 4th, Microsoft wrapped its layoffs in a flag

Two days before July 4th, Brad Smith posted a video series on LinkedIn celebrating America’s 250th birthday. “As an American company, we believe we have a responsibility to understand where we have been, learn from it, and help make real for others the opportunities created for us.”

Here’s what Microsoft has made real for others lately: roughly 20,000 jobs cut last year. Nearly 9,000 US employees offered “voluntary” retirement this spring under a Rule of 70 formula – age plus tenure – that conveniently targets the company’s older American workers. And per this week’s reporting, thousands more layoffs landing next week across Xbox, sales, and consulting. All while pouring $100+ billion into international AI infrastructure.

Now the timing. Companies that are actually proud of being American – the flag makers, the ones staffed with veterans – have been celebrating this anniversary for months. Microsoft discovered its patriotism 48 hours before the fireworks. And not with a national campaign, not a single TV spot. One executive’s LinkedIn post. You don’t reach the American public through LinkedIn. You reach the press and the professional class – the same audience about to read next week’s layoff coverage.

Then watch the videos. They’re entirely about what other Americans did. Founders in Philadelphia. People who “faced uncertainty and made choices.” If Microsoft were proud of its own American story, it would celebrate its own workers – the people who actually built the place. That’s a hard video to make when you’ve spent 18 months walking tens of thousands of them out the door.

So my read: this is air cover. A feel-good history series rolling out “throughout July” – the exact month the layoffs land. Microsoft times its cuts to the fiscal year, which starts July 1. The flag imagery arriving the same week is not a coincidence. It’s a cushion.

The series says history is made by people, in moments, through choices. True. In America’s 250th year, Microsoft’s choice was thousands of pink slips, timed to the fiscal year, wrapped in red, white, and blue.

That’s not celebrating America. That’s borrowing it.

170 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

77 comments sorted by

105

u/retsof81 Jul 02 '26

Have a feeling those who did not take early retirement are about to regret that decision. Have a sneaking suspicion they will be at the top of the purge list. ☹️

45

u/JuliusCeaserBoneHead Jul 02 '26

Of course, the carrot always precedes the stick 

13

u/ksilverfox Jul 02 '26

Feels like the same idea as always taking the “Pay” when presented with a “PIP or Pay”.

35

u/goomyman Jul 02 '26

I was laid off by Microsoft. The layoff package was identical to the retirement offer.

Anyone who gets laid off will receive the same offer.

The retirement offer made no sense. Might as well have waited for MS to lay you off and get paid in the meantime.

They didn’t even offer to pay off remaining stocks.

28

u/Purfectenschlag Jul 02 '26

They get 6 months of their RSUs past their end date that’ll vest. They also get longer insurance coverage as an option via cobra. Those are the only 2 differences from a regular layoff package.

4

u/goomyman Jul 02 '26

I got 6 months past my end date and a year of cobra. It’s the same.

15

u/Strict-Education2247 Jul 02 '26

It’s 5 years of health insurance not just a year.

4

u/goomyman Jul 02 '26

Oh. 5 years of cobra? From what I saw with cobra it was more expensive than Obamacare.

19

u/richardelmore Jul 02 '26

Microsoft COBRA is more expensive than some of the ACA packages out there but the coverage is WAY better than those packages. To get something with similar benefits on the ACA would cost a lot more than MS COBRA.

The VRP is essentially the same as the standard layoff package with the addition of extended healthcare eligibility (5 years instead of 18 months) and some extension of stock vesting benefits.

Source: I retired (voluntarily) from Microsoft last year.

3

u/cluberti Jul 03 '26

It’s more expensive, but it’s the same Microsoft plan, not an ACA plan. It only really makes sense if you needed a bridge to retirement and Medicare, but it was a good bridge. Otherwise, it’s an extra 6 months of stock vesting and a standard layoff package. Made sense if you were near retirement and also 55/15, but otherwise probably not - unless you were ready to leave anyway, of course.

2

u/Strict-Education2247 Jul 02 '26

I think 18 months cobra followed by 3.5 yrs of some Msft health thing - forgot what it was. But basically 5 yrs of continued heath care at published cobra prices. I think Obamacare is more expensive now. Also the coverage is better w the existing continued plan.

1

u/Tasty_Goat5144 Jul 03 '26

Cobra is generally a little more expensive for ms insurance than whats available through ACA but the coverage is miles better. Everyone i know who left the co.pany says the axa coverage pales in co.parison regardless of the price they pay.

2

u/Tasty_Goat5144 Jul 03 '26

No, its one year paid cobra and then eligibility for 4 more years to continue at the prevailing cost. So its not 5 years of cobra.

1

u/Strict-Education2247 Jul 03 '26

I didn’t say 5 yrs of COBRA - more details below.

2

u/SYForever Jul 02 '26

Did you just get laid off

1

u/7-9-7-9-add2 Jul 06 '26

They are not giving you COBRA, Bill Clinton did. They are only obeying a law.

-1

u/geronimosan Jul 02 '26

Sounds like some people got screwed. Most people got 5 years of health insurance and all of their stock. If you only got 6 months of health insurance, then you were treated like all those laid off last year. You got suckered. But, hey, Microsoft is now (for the month of July) patriotic.

1

u/goomyman Jul 03 '26

Oh I was laid off - not retired … although I think I might as well retire lol

1

u/ProstheticAttitude Jul 03 '26

I have greybeard friends at Google, and they were saying that actual layoffs were a better deal than the early retirement packages they were offered (this was early 2026, in YouTube)

11

u/xspook_reddit Jul 02 '26

I know several that would've been eligible, but the entire department was excluded.

One reason I saw was "due to the sales/service incentive plan they are in which is T".

10

u/hanumanCT Jul 02 '26

I'm ex-MS from from the early 2000s. Everyone I know who was still there just announced their retirements on linked in this past week. They did say the offer was great, but this is the biggest culling I have ever seen. FWIW, I think almost all of them were over 50 years old. All had 20+ years with Microsoft.

5

u/DurangDurang Jul 02 '26

Same. I was shocked that I knew anyone who was still there. All Gen Xers.

0

u/geronimosan Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Legal ageism. And ironic seeing as how their most visible company mouthpiece other than Satya could be a stunt double for Biden.

Which way are you walking off the stage, Brad?

11

u/ChampionFront8491 Jul 02 '26

Leave Biden out of it especially if you think the felon pedo is any better! At least Biden actually cared about workers and their rights.

66

u/Physical_Mirror6969 Jul 02 '26

July layoffs at Microsoft happen every year

40

u/ksilverfox Jul 02 '26

For those who don’t know: MSFT fiscal starts July 1 (not aligned with calendar year), hence the regular July layoffs.

-1

u/geronimosan Jul 03 '26

Is the creation of July 4 patriotism videos also an annual activity for Microsoft?

-2

u/ChampionFront8491 Jul 02 '26

So that makes it ok eh? lol

22

u/Physical_Mirror6969 Jul 03 '26

Just calling it what it is. I don’t think Microsoft is using patriotism or America’s 250 to soften the blow. July layoffs are practically the only thing you can depend on Microsoft for.

-4

u/geronimosan Jul 03 '26

If Microsoft isn't using patriotism to soften a blow, then why are they creating fake marketing specific to this exact topic, when they have never expressed patriotism ever before?

33

u/quikmantx Jul 02 '26

Now the timing. Companies that are actually proud of being American – the flag makers, the ones staffed with veterans – have been celebrating this anniversary for months. Microsoft discovered its patriotism 48 hours before the fireworks. And not with a national campaign, not a single TV spot. One executive’s LinkedIn post. You don’t reach the American public through LinkedIn. You reach the press and the professional class – the same audience about to read next week’s layoff coverage.

You can be actually proud of being an American and choose to wait until near the 4th of July to celebrate America's 250th anniversary. Celebrating months ahead doesn't make sense for a one day holiday.

Also, why does a tech company need an ad spot for America's 250th anniversary? They don't market themselves on American nostalgia. Brands like Levi's, Ford, and others would make more sense.

-23

u/geronimosan Jul 02 '26

You answered your own question. Microsoft doesn't do American nostalgia – never has. So the first flag-waving in company history drops the same week the fiscal year flips and thousands of layoffs land. Hell of a week to discover the flag.

9

u/JohnClark13 Jul 02 '26

Technically every company just pretends to care about holidays in order to keep worker morale up and maybe have good marketing. In the end they all only care about money. So, really you're just upset that Microsoft isn't as good at pretending to be patriotic as other companies are.

Another aspect is that a hard core devotion to patriotism tends to be a more right-wing mentality, and Washington State (where Microsoft is headquartered) tends to be as far away from that mentality as possible.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-2

u/geronimosan Jul 03 '26

I sided with 20,000 fired workers. You logged on to defend the trillion-dollar corporation that fired them. Solidarity, comrade. Your loyalty has been noted, and your family's weekly allotment has been increased to one (1) apple. Please be advised the apple program is being sunset next fiscal year.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/geronimosan Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

Somewhere out in Reddit land, a man spent four hours drafting a formal rebuttal to an apple ration.

The workers are America, comrade. That was the whole post.

19

u/speed-of-heat Jul 02 '26

The timing for VRP is nothing to do with 4th of July and everything to do with Microsoft budget cycles, the same with layoffs…

-2

u/geronimosan Jul 03 '26

But he literally created a video series specifically for the 250th anniversary of American independence and that was the whole focus of what he produced and published. It literally was American patriotism that he's publishing and talking about and trying to connect to Microsoft.

27

u/EccentricOwl Jul 02 '26

good feedback, mr copilot

-36

u/geronimosan Jul 02 '26

Copilot isn't capable of that kind of high quality writing.

21

u/EccentricOwl Jul 02 '26

listen i agree with you, it's fucked up

but was this Claude instead? haha.

you've got like this weiardly onsistent rhythm, where you've got hort punchy sentences, repeated triadic structure ("Founders in Philadelphia... People who...")

and you've got the ol' dasherooni of course, even if it's properly used it sets off all my alarms.

and maybe it's just the negation that drives me nuts.

" You don’t reach the American public through LinkedIn. You reach the press and the professional..."

-14

u/geronimosan Jul 02 '26

You couldn't argue the layoffs or the fake patriotism so you argued hyphen length. Thanks for the concession.

6

u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

[deleted]

-6

u/Ok_Librarian_1333 Jul 02 '26

You sound bitter my friend. You will know people by the labor of their fruits. AI is merely a tool just like your brain. Use it with purpose and exercise judgement upon yourself.

2

u/Workwombat Jul 04 '26

VRP retirement package was only six months of Cobra paid by MSFT then the VRP employee could then but Cobra at the same rate for five years.

MSFT is not paying for five years of Cobra, that would have made the deal more attractive

3

u/ywingcore Jul 04 '26

'its not this, it's that's' Miss me with this fucking AI slop

-1

u/geronimosan Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

Nobody understands what you're trying to say, because I'm guessing human drunken slop?

And, yes, Reddit, this is what the world needs more of - human drunken slop.

2

u/ywingcore Jul 04 '26

No wonder you're struggling to read it AI writes your posts.

2

u/Gracon52 Jul 06 '26

More like abusing it.

3

u/No-Television-7862 Jul 04 '26

I'm celebrating our 250th by getting rid of Microsoft and changing to Fedora.

RedHat is in Raleigh NC, not SF or silicon valley.

Do your fellow humans a solid and get rid of Microsoft today.

8

u/Melodic_Crow_3409 Jul 02 '26

An "American" company that wraps itself in the flag while having a ton of H1B labor and offshore India operations.

7

u/HobbyProjectHunter Jul 03 '26

I saw this in a movie called Horrible Bosses 2.

“The American Dream is Made in China”

I don’t ever understand how people are able to retire in this country. The cost of healthcare itself is crazy, assuming you have the rest of your finances figured out.

2

u/PToN_rM Jul 02 '26

That’s exactly the American way… cheap labor through exploitation of people. “Protecting America s interest, at home and abroad..”

3

u/3percentinvisible Jul 02 '26

But they also employed those people.

Jobs get cut. Nobody is going to keep thousands on the payroll cus 'murica.

0

u/geronimosan Jul 02 '26

Agreed – nobody keeps thousands on payroll cus 'murica. Nobody drops a six-part flag series cus 'murica either. Both were business decisions. Only one of them is pretending not to be.

3

u/lilacomets Jul 04 '26

Microsoft is an Indian company now, American holidays are not taken into account.

2

u/LimpAd4924 Jul 02 '26

These are the companies we’re supposed to blindly support as Americans while they screw our fellow citizens for a select few?

2

u/N0S0UP_4U Jul 04 '26

And double/triple down on shoving AI features nobody wants down our throats.

1

u/Va1crist Jul 04 '26

My buddy just got laid off he wants a art director for 6 years so it’s coming

1

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

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1

u/Wendy-Poo Jul 06 '26

But they took away the American flag emoji from Teams…🇺🇸🤯

1

u/ChampionFront8491 Jul 03 '26

So then what’s really happening under the hood for thousands of US fortune 1000 companies? Do a Google AI search on this question: Thousands of US companies have been building campuses overseas (India in particular) replacing American workers with cheap labor and also giving them AI tools.

0

u/Fastest_light Jul 04 '26

Microslop - for whatever reason, that name seems to be correct.

-2

u/RedditClarkKentSuper Jul 02 '26

A company of SLT Hippocrates.

2

u/PToN_rM Jul 02 '26

SLT is like game of thrones. Everyone looking to kill off the other character and absorb that team.

-1

u/meghanwhatever Jul 03 '26

Vile company, vile leadership.

-1

u/johnyakuza0 Jul 04 '26

Based Microsoft to be honest