Workforce Restructuring - Microsoft laid off 9,000 employees, replacing general salespeople with solutions engineers [1] - The company is prioritizing product knowledge over relationship-based sales, reflecting a shift in customer expectations driven by AI [3][4] - The company aims to replace employees lacking product expertise with those who possess it [4] AI Impact on Sales - An estimated 30% to 40% of sales representatives focused on initial calls could be replaced by AI [2] - AI is raising the bar for customer expectations, diminishing the value of generalist salespeople [3] - The industry anticipates AI to significantly impact the sales landscape, necessitating specialized knowledge [1][2]

And another stock closing in the red is Microsoft after announcing or word of its plans to lay off more than 9,000 employees came today. This comes after 6,000 people were let go back in May. Largest number of layoffs in technology so far this year.And joining us now to discuss is Alex Canowitz, big technology founder and a CNBC contributor. Alex, welcome. Uh it's tempting to say this is about AI taking jobs, but for Microsoft, I'm not sure that's the case.I do see a movement across tech. We've talked about ...

All right, welcome back. What you're seeing there is Microsoft, they're down about 1 half of 1%. News came out this morning that they are laying off roughly 9,000 employees.Now, while that cut is less than 4% of its global workforce, you have to put it in context with the other cuts it's made over the course of the past year, including the 6,000 that was announced back in May. And then when you compare it to the other tech layoffs this year, it is the largest workforce reduction yet. Our Steve Kovak is here ...

Layoffs - Microsoft is implementing job cuts affecting approximately 9,000 employees [1] - This marks the second major wave of layoffs this year [1] Cost Control - The layoffs are part of Microsoft's efforts to control costs [1]

Microsoft's top sales executive is planning to take a two-month sabbatical as the company plans a wave of layoffs targeting his organization https://t.co/IrQZFdPWrk📷: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg https://t.co/p2y85af3s9 ...