Microsoft offers a quarter of its global workforce voluntary buyouts as AI spending accelerates

Microsoft has offered 60,000 employees, or about 27% of its global workforce, voluntary buyouts as the software giant spends heavily on artificial intelligence.The company's voluntary exit offer was available to eligible employees in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States, the company's Chief People Officer Amy Coleman wrote in a blog post Monday.“The Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us,” Coleman wrote. “We’ll learn from it. At the same time, we’ll keep helping people focus on the work that matters most, build new skills and, where it makes sense, find new opportunities across Microsoft.”The company, which releases its quarterly financial results Wednesday, had approximately 223,000 full-time employees at the end of June.Shares of Microsoft Corp., based in Redmond, Washington, hit an all-time high this month. The stock rose about 1% on Monday.In May, Microsoft planned to offer buyouts to about 8,750 people, or 7% of its U.S. workforce, according to two people familiar w