Microsoft Slashes 9,000 Jobs While Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Poaches $20 Million Worth Of AI Talent From OpenAI: Investor Warns Of 'Jealousy, Envy, And Helplessness' Among Tech Workers In Silicon Valley

July 03, 2025 02:31 PM PDT | By EODHD

Google News:

Microsoft Slashes 9,000 Jobs While Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Poaches $20 Million Worth Of AI Talent From OpenAI: Investor Warns Of 'Jealousy, Envy, And Helplessness' Among Tech Workers In Silicon Valley — Image source: Kalkine Media

Recent News

Medtronic’s Steady Growth Within NYSE Composite Reflects Strong Operat...

NVIDIA Rallies on Sector Strength and Momentum Within Nasdaq Composite...

Is (NASDAQ:VC) Undervalued as Nasdaq Composite Reflects Broader Market...

First Trust Financials AlphaDEX becomes the largest shareholders of Fr...

Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) cut 9,000 jobs in its second 2025 layoff round while Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) and OpenAI ignite a talent war with compensation packages reaching $20 million annually, creating stark contrasts in Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence landscape. What Happened: The layoffs affect less than 4% of Microsoft’s workforce across diverse teams and regions as the company maintains cost controls while investing $80 billion in AI data centers this fiscal year.

Microsoft’s gaming division, including Candy Crush parent King, eliminated 200 positions, marking the company’s continued workforce reduction following 6,000 cuts in May. Don’t Miss: Tired of Grid Failures and Charging Deserts? This Startup Has a Solar Fix and $25M+ in Sales — Now Raising at $3/Share Invest early in CancerVax's breakthrough tech aiming to disrupt a $231B market. Back a bold new approach to cancer treatment with high-growth potential. Meanwhile, Meta’s aggressive talent acquisition has sparked unprecedented compensation inflation. Deedy Das, an AI investor at Menlo Ventures, told Business Insider that three machine-learning engineers at OpenAI and Anthropic received offers between $8 million and $20 million annually from Meta.

“There’s a ton of ripple effects I’m hearing in the Valley,” Das said, describing widespread “jealousy, envy, and helplessness” among tech workers not receiving such packages. The bidding war intensified after Meta recruited Scale CEO Alexandr Wang in a $14.3 billion deal and poached six star researchers from OpenAI for its new Meta Superintelligence Labs. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed Meta offered $100 million signing bonuses, though Meta CTO Andrew Bosworthdismissed these claims as dishonest during a company meeting. Why It Matters: Roy Bahat of Bloomberg Beta noted the talent shortage drives extreme valuations, with only approximately 2,000 researchers capable of building foundational AI models globally. “In my 20 years in tech, I have never seen as clearly defined a market for extraordinary talent,” Bahat said.

The competition extends to universities, where companies pressure Ph.D. interns to abandon studies. “They’re pressuring them to drop out of school,” said Bill Aulet of MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship. Companies argue AI advances are happening so rapidly that graduation delays could cost career-defining opportunities. Microsoft’s third quarter revenue of $70.07 billion, up 13% year-over-year, and Azure’s 33% growth demonstrate continued AI demand despite workforce reductions.

Story Continues Read Next: $100k+ in investable assets? Match with a fiduciary advisor for free to learn how you can maximize your retirement and save on taxes – no cost, no obligation. Warren Buffett once said, "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die." Here’s how you can earn passive income with just $100. Photo courtesy: Tada Images / Shutterstock.coma This article Microsoft Slashes 9,000 Jobs While Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Poaches $20 Million Worth Of AI Talent From OpenAI: Investor Warns Of 'Jealousy, Envy, And Helplessness' Among Tech Workers In Silicon Valley originally appeared on Benzinga.com

Disclaimer

The content, including but not limited to any articles, news, quotes, information, data, text, reports, ratings, opinions, images, photos, graphics, graphs, charts, animations, and video (Content) is a service of Kalkine Media LLC., having Delaware File No. 4697309 (“Kalkine Media, we or us”) and is available for personal and non-commercial use only. The principal purpose of the Content is to educate and inform. The Content does not contain or imply any recommendation or opinion intended to influence your financial decisions and must not be relied upon by you as such. Some of the Content on this website may be sponsored/non-sponsored, as applicable, but is NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold the stocks of the company(s) or engage in any investment activity under discussion. Kalkine Media is neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice through this platform. Users should make their own enquiries about any investments and Kalkine Media strongly suggests the users to seek advice from a financial adviser, stockbroker or other professional (including taxation and legal advice), as necessary. Kalkine Media hereby disclaims any and all the liabilities to any user for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising from any use of the Content on this website, which is provided without warranties. The views expressed in the Content by the guests, if any, are their own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Kalkine Media.
The content published on Kalkine Media also includes feeds sourced from third-party providers. Kalkine does not assert any ownership rights over the content provided by these third-party sources. The inclusion of such feeds on the Website is for informational purposes only. Kalkine does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the content obtained from third-party feeds. Furthermore, Kalkine Media shall not be held liable for any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the content obtained from third-party feeds, nor for any damages or losses arising from the use of such content. Some of the images/music that may be used on this website are copyrighted to their respective owner(s). Kalkine Media does not claim ownership of any of the pictures/music displayed/used on this website unless stated otherwise. The images/music that may be used on this website are taken from various sources on the internet, including paid subscriptions or are believed to be in public domain. We have used reasonable efforts to accredit the source (public domain/CC0 status) to where it was found and indicated it, as necessary.
This disclaimer is subject to change without notice. Users are advised to review this disclaimer periodically for any updates or modifications.