On Wednesday morning, Microsoft announced it was laying off 10,000 employees, about 5% of its total headcount, in response to declining revenue and a “core restructuring.” A few hours earlier, dozens of Microsoft executives attended Sting’s exclusive company-funded concert outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The combination of these two events looks shockingly deaf for the world’s largest software maker.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday night’s concert, which was reportedly attended by about 50 people. Gordon “Sting” Matthew Thomas Summer is one of the world’s most recognizable rock musicians, whose private performances typically cost around $500,000, according to AAE Music. It is not known if Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who personally signed the blog post announcing the massive layoffs, was present at the concert, although he was present in Switzerland at the World Economic Forum.
Nadella has not announced any pay cuts or executive bonuses.
Ultimately, a boisterous, star-studded executive event costing the equivalent of five to 10 years of a typical Microsoft employee’s salary probably won’t deal a blow to the company’s $200 billion plan to lay off staff. And it’s unlikely that Microsoft – the only tech company to do so in the past few weeks – Google this morning announced a similar cut of 12,000 employees. But it can’t be overstated how bad the optics are for Microsoft and its CEO, who said the company was cutting jobs “in the most thoughtful and transparent way.”