Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty Images Early this month, Microsoft confirmed it was axing 9,000 employees, or about 4 percent of its workforce, in its third staffing cut of 2025. One might suppose a company that’s been laying people off for three years straight isn’t performing well or is under pressure from shareholders to reduce costs and return to profitability. But that’s not the case here: In April quarterly earnings, Microsoft reported $25.8 billion net income on $70.1