Reports circulated online suggesting Microsoft planned to lay off between 11,000 and 22,000 employees in January 2026, potentially impacting divisions like Azure, Xbox, and sales. These claims, originating from a TipRanks report and spreading on social media, were linked to AI investment costs. However, Microsoft's Chief Communications Officer, Frank X. Shaw, has strongly denied these rumors, calling them "100 percent made up speculative wrong" and entirely untrue, despite the company's history of recent layoffs.