Microsoft expects 'very few people' to accept buyouts, CFO says in internal memo

• Microsoft is offering buyouts to about a quarter of its workforce.
• In an internal memo, Microsoft's finance boss said the company expects "very few people" to accept.
• Employees had been questioning the rationale behind the offer, the memo said.

Microsoft expects "very few people" to accept the buyouts it offered this week to 60,000 employees, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood wrote in an internal memo.

"I know there have been some questions on the rationale behind the voluntary exit offer that we announced this week," Hood wrote. "Our intent is to offer employees agency if they choose to leave the company on their own terms. We expect very few people to select this offer because of the growth opportunities here at Microsoft."

Hood sends these emails internally to employees every quarter when Microsoft discloses its financials. The memos mostly repeat what the company reports publicly, but provide some insight into what Microsoft executives deem most important, and what they want employees to know.

Microsoft this week offered buyouts to more than a quarter of its workforce.

Earlier this year, Microsoft offered a different retirement buyout. In that situation, about one-third of eligible employees took the offer, and that helped Microsoft cut fewer employees in subsequent layoffs.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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