Overview
- Satya Nadella said on Brad Gerstner’s BG2 podcast that Microsoft will grow headcount again, with each new role designed to have more leverage than in the pre‑AI era.
- The company is steering employees toward Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot, which run on models from OpenAI and Anthropic, with a year of “unlearning and learning” expected.
- Nadella cited an internal case where AI agents were built to manage fiber‑network maintenance when hiring could not keep pace, illustrating productivity gains from automation.
- The pivot follows multiple 2025 layoffs that eliminated at least about 15,000 roles, leaving headcount near roughly 228,000 at the end of the fiscal year.
- Microsoft reported $281.7 billion in fiscal‑year revenue with Azure surpassing $75 billion on 34% growth, expanded its global datacenter footprint including the planned Fairwater site, and emphasized security, quality, and the $4 billion Microsoft Elevate skills initiative.