Microsoft hosted private concert for executives the night before layoffs announcement, says report

Microsoft announced to lay off 10,000 employees on January 18, but a night before that announcement, the company treated its senior executives to a performance by English musician Sting in Davos, Switzerland, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The tech behemoth is one of many large corporations to announce layoffs, which included Google, Amazon, Meta and others.

Microsoft hosted a private event the previous evening in Davos, the site of the World Economic Forum, which some of its top executives attended, according to the report.

It's unclear whether Microsoft paid Sting to perform in Davos. However, hiring performers for private events can cost more than $500,000, according to Fortune magazine.

Microsoft stated that it is eliminating positions as a result of "macroeconomic conditions and shifting customer priorities."

“We’re living through times of significant change,” CEO Satya Nadella told the staff. “We’re seeing organizations in every industry and geography exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one.”

The decision to eliminate jobs, he continued, was "difficult but necessary."

Many people criticised Microsoft for the concert on social media.

"I'm a big fan of Satya Nadella, but this is seriously bad executive symbolism," Columbia University professor Rita Gunther McGrath tweeted.

"Massive layoffs but a private concert for the execs first," YouTuber Robb Hood said.

"We can afford Sting but we can't afford you," a Twitter user wrote. 

"It’s bad enough the Microsoft execs paid a fortune to have a private concert before firing 10,000 people, but that it was Sting is rubbing salt into the wounds," another tweet said.