Microsoft to cancel salary hikes this year: Report

Microsoft Corp will not raise salaries for full-time employees this year, and is reducing the budget for bonuses and stock awards, reports Reuters.

The information came from an internal email by the tech giant’s SEO Satya Nadella, which read, "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 tech sector has seen thousands of layoffs recently. Microsoft also said in January that around 10,000 jobs would be cut. The layoff was estimated to affect around 5 per cent of the business's global workforce.

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