Microsoft won’t give employees pay rise this year: Insider

REDMOND – Microsoft will not raise salaries for full-time employees this year and is reducing budgets for bonuses and stock awards, online media company Insider reported on Wednesday (May 10), citing an internal e-mail by chief executive Satya Nadella.

The technology giant did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

"Last year, we made a significant investment in compensation driven by market conditions and company performance, nearly doubling our global merit budget... this year, the economic conditions are very different across many dimensions," the report quoted Mr Nadella saying.

In January, Microsoft said it will let go of 10,000 workers, adding to the tens of thousands layoffs announced before that across the tech sector as it deals with slowing growth in a turbulent economy.

Microsoft has now squarely placed its focus on generative artificial intelligence (AI), an area the industry sees as a bright spot.

In collaboration with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which has also received billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft, it has been infusing the AI tech into its Office products as well as search engine Bing.

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