Microsoft defends Asha Sharma: Xbox layoffs not H-1B
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Microsoft defended new CEO Asha Sharma, identifying her as an American CEO and rejecting claims that the Xbox layoffs were connected to H-1B visa policy
- Microsoft is cutting more than 3,000 jobs in its Xbox division, according to the Wall Street Journal
- id Software, a Microsoft-owned studio, has laid off 136 workers as part of the broader Xbox restructuring
- Coverage frames the cuts as a "massive reboot" of Xbox, signaling the depth of the restructuring beyond routine trimming
- The defense comes as Microsoft faces scrutiny over whether the layoffs disproportionately affected visa-holding workers, a politically charged question in the current H-1B debate
Why it matters: With more than 3,000 Xbox jobs being eliminated and id Software shedding 136 workers, Microsoft is paying close attention to the political narrative around who got cut — because linking the layoffs to H-1B policy would invite regulatory and reputational risk on top of an already painful restructuring.
