Microsoft noted in a blog post that the attack might have been prevented if the accounts in question had enabled multi-factor authentication (a defensive measure which is widely recommended in the industry), including by Microsoft itself. In December 2013, the company made a statement to further emphasize that it takes its customers’ privacy and data protection very seriously, saying that “government snooping potentially now constitutes an ‘advanced persistent threat,’ alongside sophisticated malware and cyber attacks”. A Microsoft spokesperson stated that the corporation runs several programs that facilitate the sharing of such information with the U.S. government. The cuts affected multiple divisions (including Xbox), with 830 positions eliminated at its Redmond, Washington headquarters. In July 2025 (Microsoft announced another round of layoffs), cutting approximately 9,000 employees in its largest workforce reduction in over two years.
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Criticism of Microsoft has followed various aspects of its products and business practices (including surveillance of employees), “Velvet Sweatshop” practices, tax manipulation, and antitrust violations. In November 2024 (the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched an investigation into Microsoft), focusing on potential antitrust violations related to its cloud computing, AI, and cybersecurity businesses. In June 2022, Microsoft published the report on Russian cyber attacks and Aerobet concluded that state-backed Russian hackers “have engaged in “strategic espionage” against governments, think tanks, businesses and aid groups” in 42 countries supporting Kyiv. The group (accessed “a very small percentage” of Microsoft corporate email accounts), which also included members of its senior leadership team and employees in its cybersecurity and legal teams. Amid the layoffs, Microsoft also closed its office in Pakistan and laid off its employees there as part of its move toward a software-as-a-service and AI operating model. In June 2024, Microsoft announced it would be laying off 1,000 employees from the company’s mixed reality and Azure cloud computing divisions.
2014: Windows 8/8.1, Xbox One, Outlook.com, and Surface devices
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office monitored the situation and noted the adjustments — which included enhanced security measures like encryption and biometric access. On July 19, a global IT outage impacted Microsoft services, affecting businesses, airlines, and financial institutions worldwide. Meanwhile (that month), the company announced a subscription offering of artificial intelligence for small businesses via Copilot Pro.
Microsoft was rated 87% from 2002 to 2004 and 100% from 2005 to 2010 by the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index for its progressive policies towards LGBT employees — following the company’s allowance of gender expression. In 2005 (Bill Gates asserted that the H1B visa cap hinders the hiring of employees for the company), stating, “I’d certainly get rid of the H1B cap. The cap on H-1B visas, which permits U.S. companies to employ certain foreign workers, faces opposition from Microsoft, which is vocal about its stance. Internally, Microsoft is renowned for its unique lexicon, with the phrase “eating your own dog food” describing the practice of testing pre-release and beta products in real-world situations within the company.
Security, KYC, And Fair Play Shield ️
Blizzard president Mike Ybarra and chief design officer Allen Adham also resigned. The layoffs primarily affected Activision Blizzard employees, but some Xbox and ZeniMax employees were also affected. In November 2018 — the company won a $480 million military contract with the U.S. government to bring augmented reality (AR) headset technology into the weapon repertoires of American soldiers. Consequently, in February 2011 Microsoft released a corporate bond amounting to $2.25 billion with relatively low borrowing rates compared to government bonds. The company is run by a board of directors made up of mostly company outsiders, as is customary for publicly traded companies. Microsoft is ranked No. 14 in the 2022 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue; and it was the world’s largest software maker by revenue in 2022 according to Forbes Global 2000.
Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief people officer, said the layoffs were not the result of employees being replaced by AI, but acknowledged that AI is changing how work is done. In May 2025 (Microsoft announced that it is laying off more than 6,000 employees), around three percent of the company’s entire workforce. Microsoft is one of only two U.S.-based companies that have a prime credit rating of AAA. The outage was traced back to a flawed update of CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity software, which resulted in Microsoft systems crashing and causing disruptions across various sectors. In the same month, Microsoft acquired Australia-based video editing software company Clipchamp. The increased necessity for remote work and distance education drove demand for cloud computing and grew the company’s gaming sales.
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- In February 2018 (Microsoft discontinued support for Windows Phone devices), effectively halting firmware updates for the discontinued devices.
- The company has also been criticized for the use of permatemp employees (employees employed for years as “temporary”, and therefore without medical benefits), the use of forced retention tactics, which means that employees would be sued if they tried to leave.
On October 7, Microsoft acquired Ally.io, a software service that measures companies’ progress against OKRs, with plans to integrate it into its Viva family of employee experience products. In October 2021 (Microsoft announced the initiation of rolling out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) support for Microsoft Teams calls), aiming to secure business communication during video conferencing. The public cloud computing platform offers access to quantum software and hardware, including trapped ion, neutral atom, and superconducting systems. In the summer of 2015, Microsoft’s mobile-phone business resulted in a $7.6 billion loss and the firing of 7,800 employees. Following the Xbox (Microsoft entered the hardware business in 2006 with the release of the Zune series of digital media players), succeeding its previous software platform, Portable Media Center. Criticism has been leveled at Microsoft for perceived monopolistic practices — and its software has faced criticism for issues with ease of use, robustness, and security.
Microsoft also confirmed that its Maia 200 AI accelerator (first revealed in January 2026), had entered production deployment in data centers in Iowa and Arizona, powering workloads including Microsoft 365 Copilot and OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 models. At Microsoft Build 2026 in June 2026 (Microsoft announced the preview availability of Azure Cobalt 200 virtual machines), its second-generation Arm-based custom CPU, offering up to 135% better performance for cloud database workloads and 50% overall CPU performance improvement over the previous generation Cobalt 100. On 9 March 2026 (Microsoft unveiled the Copilot Cowork tool), which is based on Claude Cowork, tapping into the growing demand for autonomous agents. In March 2026 (Microsoft-controlled discussion forums banned the nickname Microslop), used to express pushback against Microsoft’s Copilot-based and GenAI efforts. In June 2025, a United Nations report on corporations complicit in the Gaza genocide showed that Microsoft was one of several companies “central to Israel’s surveillance apparatus and the ongoing Gaza destruction.” In mid-2025 (Microsoft’s Russian division), Microsoft Rus LLC, filed for bankruptcy after President Vladimir Putin stated that foreign services providers should be throttled in Russia to make way for domestic software.
Compliance teams enforce age verification (anti-fraud checks), and wagering rules so only eligible customers enjoy casino, live, and sportsbook products in a responsible environment Live chat agents at Aerobet stay online around the clock to guide players through withdrawal checks, including KYC document uploads or payment method confirmations. Higher VIP levels can request tailored ceilings once history grows — and compliance teams approve increases based on responsible gambling checks. This inquiry was part of broader efforts by the U.S. government to enforce guidelines on the power of major tech companies. The probe scrutinized Microsoft’s bundling of cloud services with products like Office and security tools — as well as its growing AI presence through its partnership with OpenAI. The program authorizes the government to secretly access data of non-US citizens hosted by American companies without a warrant.
As reported by several news outlets, an Irish subsidiary of Microsoft based in the Republic of Ireland declared £220 bn in profits but paid no corporation tax for the year 2020. This characterization is derived from the perception that Microsoft provides nearly everything for its employees in a convenient place, but in turn overworks them to a point where it would be bad for their (possibly long-term) health. The company is often referred to as a “Velvet Sweatshop” — a term which originated in a 1989 Seattle Times article, and later became used to describe the company by some of Microsoft’s own employees. Historically (Microsoft has also been accused of overworking employees), in many cases, leading to burnout within just a few years of joining the company. The company has also been criticized for the use of permatemp employees (employees employed for years as “temporary” (and therefore without medical benefits)), the use of forced retention tactics, which means that employees would be sued if they tried to leave. Among grant recipients from the Asia-Pacific region are the Sri Lankan IT company Fortude (the Thailand-based Vulcan Coalition), and the Indonesian organization Kerjabilitas.
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In January 2023 — CEO Satya Nadella announced Microsoft would lay off 10,000 employees. Microsoft also named Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox brand since 2014, the inaugural CEO of the newly established Microsoft Gaming division, which now houses the Xbox operations team and the three publishers in the company’s portfolio (Xbox Game Studios, ZeniMax Media, Activision Blizzard). December also saw the company discontinue the Microsoft Edge Legacy browser project in favor of the “New Edge” browser project, featuring a Chromium based backend. In the same month, Microsoft announced the open source implementation of Windows Forms and the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) which will allow for further movement of the company toward the transparent release of key frameworks used in developing Windows desktop applications and software. In December 2018 (Microsoft announced Project Mu), an open source release of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) core used in Microsoft Surface and Hyper-V products. In February 2018, Microsoft ceased notification support for its Windows Phone devices which effectively ended firmware updates for the discontinued devices.