• Companies such as Peloton, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, BlackRock, and UPS have trimmed staff this year.
• In some cases, artificial intelligence is reshaping workforces.
• See the list of companies letting workers go in 2025.

The list of companies laying off employees this year is growing.

Layoffs and other workforce reductions have continued in 2025, following two years of significant job cuts in tech, media, finance, manufacturing, retail, and energy.

While the reasons for slimming staff vary, the cost-cutting measures are coming amid technological change. A World Economic Forum survey found that some 41% of companies worldwide expect to reduce their workforces over the next five years because of the rise of artificial intelligence.

Companies such as Oracle, CNN, Dropbox, and Block have previously announced job cuts related to AI. Though Amazon has not announced job cuts this year, CEO Andy Jassy told employees in June that the company will need "fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today" in the coming years as it expands its use of generative AI and agents.

Meanwhile, tech jobs in big data, fintech, and AI are expected to double by 2030, according to the WEF.

Here are the companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2025 so far, in alphabetical order.

Adidas plans to cut up to 500 jobs in Germany.

Adidas said in January that it would reduce the size of its workforce at its headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany, affecting up to 500 jobs, CNBC reported.

If fully executed, it amounts to a reduction of nearly 9% at the company headquarters, which employs about 5,800 employees, according to the Adidas website.

The news came shortly after the company announced it had outperformed its profit expectations at the end of 2024, touting "better-than-expected" results in the fourth quarter.

An Adidas spokesperson said the company had grown "too complex because of our current operating model."

"To set adidas up for long-term success, we are now starting to look at how we align our operating model with the reality of how we work. This may have an impact on the organizational structure and number of roles based at our HQ in Herzogenaurach."

The company said it is not a cost-cutting measure and could not confirm concrete numbers.

Ally is cutting less than 5% of workers.

The digital-financial-services company Ally is laying off roughly 500 of its 11,000 employees, a spokesperson confirmed to BI.

"As we continue to right-size our company, we made the difficult decision to selectively reduce our workforce in some areas, while continuing to hire in our other areas of our business," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said the company was offering severance, outplacement support, and the opportunity to apply for openings at Ally.

Ally made a similar level of cuts in October 2023, the Charlotte Observer reported.

Automattic, Tumblr's parent, cuts 16% of staff

Automattic, the parent company of Tumblr and WordPress, said in April it is cutting 16% of its staff globally. The company's website said it has nearly 1,500 employees.

Automattic's CEO, Matt Mullenweg, said in a note to employees posted online that the company has reached an "important crossroads."

"While our revenue continues to grow, Automattic operates in a highly competitive market, and technology is evolving at unprecedented levels," the note read.

The company is restructuring to improve its "productivity, profitability, and capacity to invest," it added.

The company said it was offering severance and job placement resources to affected employees.

BlackRock is cutting 1% of its workforce.

BlackRock told employees it was planning to cut about 200 people of its 21,000-strong workforce, Bloomberg reported in January.

The reductions were more than offset by some 3,750 workers who were added last year and another 2,000 expected to be added in 2025.

BlackRock's president, Rob Kapito, and its chief operating officer, Rob Goldstein, said the cuts would help realign the firm's resources with its strategy, Bloomberg reported.

Block to lay off nearly 1,000 workers

Jack Dorsey's fintech company, Block, is laying off nearly 1,000 employees, according to TechCrunch and The Guardian, in its second major workforce reduction in just over a year.

The company, which operates Square, Afterpay, CashApp, and Tidal, is transitioning nearly 200 managers into non-management roles and closing almost 800 open positions, according to an email obtained by TechCrunch.

Dorsey, who co-founded Block in 2009 after previously leading Twitter, announced the layoffs in March in an internal email titled "smaller block."

The restructuring is part of a broader effort to streamline operations, though Block maintains the changes are not driven by financial targets or AI replacements.

Bloomberg is making cuts in an overhaul of its newsroom

Bloomberg is cutting some editorial staff as the company reorganizes its newsroom, according to a memo viewed by BI. The larger strategy aims to have a larger headcount by the end of this year, however.

The newsroom currently employs around 2,700 people, and the changes will merge some smaller teams into larger units, the memo said.

Blue Origin is laying off one-tenth of its workforce

Jeff Bezos's rocket company, Blue Origin, is laying off about 10% of its workforce, a move that could affect more than 1,000 employees.

In a memo sent to staff in February and obtained by Business Insider, David Limp, the CEO of Blue Origin, said the company's priority going forward was "to scale our manufacturing output and launch cadence with speed, decisiveness and efficiency for our customers."

Limp specifically identified roles in engineering, research and development, and management as targets.

"We grew and hired incredibly fast in the last few years, and with that growth came more bureaucracy and less focus than we needed," Limp wrote. "It also became clear that the makeup of our organization must change to ensure our roles are best aligned with executing these priorities."

The news comes after January's debut launch of the company's partially reusable rocket — New Glenn.

Boeing cut 400 roles from its moon rocket program

Boeing announced on February 8 that it plans to cut 400 roles from its moon rocket program amid delays and rising costs related to NASA's Artemis moon exploration missions.

Artemis 2, a crewed flight to orbit the moon on Boeing's space launch system, has been rescheduled from late 2024 to September 2025. Artemis 3, intended to be the first astronaut moon landing in the program, was delayed from late 2025 and is now planned for September 2026.

"To align with revisions to the Artemis program and cost expectations, we informed our Space Launch Systems team of the potential for approximately 400 fewer positions by April 2025," a Boeing spokesperson told Business Insider. "We are working with our customer and seeking opportunities to redeploy employees across our company to minimize job losses and retain our talented teammates."

The company will issue 60-day notices of involuntary layoff to impacted employees "in coming weeks," the spokesperson said.

Boeing cut 10% of its workforce last year.

BP slashed 7,700 staff and contractor positions worldwide

BP told Business Insider in January that it planned to cut 4,700 staff and 3,000 contractors, amounting to about 5% of its global workforce.

The cuts were part of a program to "simplify and focus" BP that began last year.

"We are strengthening our competitiveness and building in resilience as we lower our costs, drive performance improvement and play to our distinctive capabilities," the company said.

Bridgewater cut about 90 staff

Bridgewater Associates cut 7% of its staff in January in an effort to stay lean, a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

The layoffs at the world's largest hedge fund bring its head count back to where it was in 2023, the person said.

The company's founder, Ray Dalio, said in a 2019 interview that about 30% of new employees were leaving the firm within 18 months.

Bumble said it intends to cut 30% of its workforce.

In a June 23 securities filing, Bumble said it plans to slash 240 roles, about 30% of its workforce. The dating app company said the cuts will result in charges between $13 million and $18 million in its third and fourth quarters.

"We recently made some difficult decisions to adjust our team structure in order to align with our strategic priorities," a Bumble spokesperson said.

They told BI that the decision to lay off over 200 employees wasn't "made lightly."

Burberry says it plans on cutting 1,700 jobs

Burberry announced 1,700 job cuts in May, or about 18% of its global workforce, as part of plans to cut costs by about £100 million ($130 million) by 2027.

It plans to end night shifts at its Yorkshire raincoat factory due to production over-capacity.

The British company sunk to an operating loss of £3 million for the year to the end of March, compared with a £418 million profit for the previous 12 months.

Chevron is slashing up to 20% of its global head count

Oil giant Chevron plans to cull 15% to 20% of its global workforce by the end of 2026, the company said in a statement to Business Insider in February.

Chevron employed 45,600 people as of December 2023, which means the layoff could cut 9,000 jobs.

The move aims to reduce costs and simplify the company's business as it completes its acquisition of oil producer Hess, which is held up in legal limbo. It is expected to save the company $2 billion to $3 billion by the end of 2026, the company said.

"Chevron is taking action to simplify our organizational structure, execute faster and more effectively, and position the company for stronger long-term competitiveness," a Chevron spokesperson said in a statement.

The cuts follow a series of layoffs at other oil and gas companies, including BP and natural gas producer EQT.

CNN plans to cut 200 jobs

Cable news giant CNN cut about 200 television-focused roles as part of a digital pivot. The cuts amounted to about 6% of the company's workforce.

In a memo sent to staff on January 23, CNN's CEO Mark Thompson said he aimed to "shift CNN's gravity towards the platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting and, by doing that, to secure CNN's future as one of the world's greatest news organizations."

Coty is cutting about 700 jobs

Coty, which sells cosmetics and fragrances under brands such as Kylie Cosmetics, Calvin Klein, and Burberry, is cutting about 700 jobs.

The company said on April 24 it aimed to cut costs by $130 million a year. Sue Nabi, the CEO, said it aimed to build a "stronger, more resilient Coty that is well-positioned for sustainable growth."

CrowdStrike is cutting about 500 jobs

CrowdStrike, the Texas-headquartered cybersecurity firm, is cutting about 500 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce, as part of a strategic plan to "yield greater efficiencies."

It expects the layoffs to cost between $36 million and $53 million.

CrowdStrike is aiming to generate $10 billion in annual recurring revenue.

The company reported worse-than-expected annual results in March, signaling that it was yet to fully recover from a widespread tech outage linked to CrowdStrike in July 2024.

Disney says it's laying off several hundred employees

Disney confirmed to BI on June 2 that it was laying off several hundred employees globally.

Most of the cuts were to roles in marketing for films and TV under the Disney Entertainment division. Other roles affected included employees in publicity, casting, and development, as well as corporate finance.

In March, the company also cut around 200 people from its ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks. In 2024, the company also had several rounds of layoffs.

Shortly after Bob Iger returned to the company as CEO in 2022, he said 7,000 jobs at Disney would be cut as part of a reorganization.

Estée Lauder will cut as many as 7,000 jobs

Cosmetics giant Estée Lauder said in its second-quarter earnings release on February 4 that it will cut between 5,800 and 7,000 jobs as the company restructures over the next two years.

The cuts will focus on "rightsizing" certain teams, and it will look to outsource certain services. The company says it expects annual gross benefits of between $0.8 billion and $1.0 billion before tax.

Geico has axed tens of thousands of workers

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chair of Insurance Operations Ajit Jain says Geico has reduced its workforce from about 50,000 to about 20,000. Jain revealed the reductions during Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting on May 3 but did not detail over what time frame they took place. Berkshire Hathaway is one of Geico's parent companies.

Warren Buffett's company reported its 2025 first-quarter earnings on during the May 3 meeting, saying Geico earned nearly $2.2 billion in pre-tax underwriting.

GrubHub announced 500 job cuts

Grubhub CEO Howard Migdal announced 500 job cuts on February 28 after selling the company to Wonder Group for $650 million.

With more than 2,200 full time employees, the number of cuts will affect more than 20% of Grubhub's previous workforce.

According to Reuters, Just Eat Takeaway, an Amsterdam-listed company, sold Grubhub at a steep loss compared to the billions it paid a few years prior after grappling with slowing growth and high taxes.

HPE is laying off 2,500 employees

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is cutting 2,500 jobs, or 5% of its employee base, CEO Antonio Neri said on an earnings call on March 6. The cuts are expected take to take place over the next 12 to 18 months.

"Doing so will better align our cost structure to our business mix and long-term strategy," Neri said. The company expects to save $350 million by 2027 because of the reduction.

HPE plummeted about 20% after hours on March 6 after it said business would be affected by recent tariffs, slow server and cloud sales, and "execution issues."

Intel to cut at least 15% of its factory workers

Chipmaker Intel is laying off more than 5,000 employees across four US states, according to a July 16 government filing.

Most of the cuts are happening in California and Oregon, while others are in Texas and Arizona, per updated Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, filings.

Intel began laying off employees in July as part of planned job cuts, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The company told staff on June 14 to expect 15% to 20% of employees in its Foundry division to be laid off this summer, according to a memo reported by The Oregonian. Intel confirmed the authenticity of the memo to BI but declined to comment on its contents.

As of December 2024, Intel employed about 108,900 people. In its annual report, the company told investors that it would reduce its "core Intel workforce" by about 15% in early 2025.

"Removing organizational complexity and empowering our engineers will enable us to better serve the needs of our customers and strengthen our execution," an Intel spokesperson told BI.

Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University will cut over 2,000 jobs after losing $800 million in funding from USAID.

"This is a difficult day for our entire community," a spokesperson told BI. "The termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding is now forcing us to wind down critical work here in Baltimore and internationally."

The news comes after the Trump administration slashed USAID personnel down from over 10,000 to around 300. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently confirmed that 83% of the agency's programs are now dead.

"We can confirm that the elimination of foreign aid funding has led to the loss of 1,975 positions in 44 countries internationally and 247 in the United States in the affected programs," the Johns Hopkins spokesperson said. "An additional 29 international and 78 domestic employees will be furloughed with a reduced schedule."

The layoffs at Johns Hopkins represent the "largest" in the university's history, CNN reported. They'll primarily affect the schools of medicine and public health, along with the Center for Communication Programs and Jhpiego, a nonprofit with a focus on preventing diseases and bolstering women's health, according to the report.

Kohl's is reducing about 10% of its roles

Department store Kohl's announced on January 28 that it reduced about 10% of its corporate roles to "increase efficiencies" and "improve profitability for the long-term health and benefit of the business," a spokesperson told BI.

"Kohl's reduced approximately 10 percent of the roles that report into its corporate offices," the spokesperson said. "More than half of the total reduction will come from closing open positions while the remainder of the positions were currently held by our associates."

Less than 200 existing employees of the company would be impacted, she added.

This follows the company's announcement on January 9 that it would shutter 27 underperforming stores across 15 states by April.

The retailer has been struggling with declining sales, reporting an 8.8% decline in net sales in the third quarter of 2024.

Its previous CEO, Tom Kingsbury, stepped down on January 15. The company's board appointed Ashley Buchanan, a retail veteran who had held top jobs in The Michaels Companies, Macy's, and Walmart, as the new CEO.

Meta is cutting 5% of its workforce

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff he "decided to raise the bar on performance management" and will act quickly to "move out low-performers," according to an internal memo seen by BI in January.

Those cuts started in February, according to records obtained by BI. Teams overseeing Facebook, the Horizon virtual reality platform, as well as logistics were among the hardest hit.

In April, Meta also laid off an undisclosed number of employees on the Reality Labs virtual reality division.

Previously, the company had laid off more than 21,000 workers since 2022.

Microchip Technology is slashing 2,000 jobs

Microchip Technology is cutting its head count across the company by around 2,000 employees, the semiconductor company said on March 3.

The company estimated that it would incur between $30 million and $40 million in costs, including severance, severance benefits, and other restructuring costs.

The cuts would be communicated to employees in the March quarter and fully implemented by the end of the June quarter.

Last year, Microchip announced it was closing its Tempe, Arizona, facility because of slower-than-anticipated orders. The closure begins in May 2025 and is expected to affect 500 jobs.

Microchip's stock had fallen over 33% in the past year.

Microsoft has made several rounds of cuts this year

Microsoft cut an unspecified number of jobs in January based on employees' performance.

Workers were told that they wouldn't receive severance and that their benefits, such as medical insurance, would stop immediately, BI reported.

The company also laid off some employees in January at divisions including gaming and sales. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to say how many jobs were cut on the affected teams.

In May, the company announced layoffs affecting about 6,000 workers.

Another round of layoffs in July will affect less than 4% of its total workforce, or roughly 9,000 employees, based on its head count of around 220,000.

Morgan Stanley plans cuts for the end of March

Morgan Stanley is set to initiate a round of layoffs beginning at the end of March. The firm is eyeing cuts to about 2% to 3% of its global workforce, which would equate to between 1,600 to 2,400 jobs, according to a person familiar with the matter who confirmed the reductions to BI.

The firm's cuts are driven by several imperatives, the person said, pointing to considerations like operational efficiency, evolving business priorities, and individual employees' performance. The person said the cuts are not related to broader market conditions, such as the recent slowdown in mergers and acquisitions that's arrested momentum on Wall Street.

Some MS staffers will be excluded from the cuts, however — namely, the bank's battalion of financial advisors — though some who assist them, such as administrative personnel in its wealth-management unit, could be affected by the layoffs, the person added.

Nextdoor is slashing 12% of its staff

Neighborhood social networking company Nextdoor is cutting 12% of its staff, or 67 jobs, it said on August 7 in its second-quarter earnings report. The move is part of CEO Nirav Tolia's plan to achieve profitability and reorganize the struggling company.

The layoffs are expected to reduce operating expenses by about $30 million, it said in the earnings report.

The company reported a net loss of $15 million, compared to $43 million year-over-year.

Nissan says it will cut 20,000 jobs by 2027

Japanese car giant Nissan is cutting 20,000 jobs by 2027 and reducing the number of factories it operates from 17 to 10 as it struggles with a dire financial situation.

The job losses include the 9,000 layoffs announced late last year, and come as the automaker faces headwinds from US tariffs on imported vehicles and collapsing sales in China.

Nissan reported a net loss of 671 billion yen ($4.5 billion) for the 2024 financial year, and said it would not issue an operating profit forecast for 2025 because of tariff uncertainty.

Oracle is reportedly cutting jobs from its cloud division.

Oracle is cutting jobs in its cloud unit, Bloomberg reported. The cuts come as the company works to curb costs amid spending on AI infrastructure.

Sources familiar with the cuts told Bloomberg that some of the cuts were related to performance issues.

Oracle did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Panasonic is cutting 10,000 jobs

Panasonic, the Japanese-headquartered multinational electronics manufacturer, plans to cut 10,000 jobs this financial year, which ends in March 2026. The cuts will affect 5,000 roles in Japan and 5,000 overseas.

In a statement on May 9, the company said it planned to "thoroughly review operational efficiency … mainly in sales and indirect departments, and reevaluate the numbers of organisations and personnel actually needed."

"Through these measures, the company will optimize our personnel on a global scale," the statement added.

Paramount is cutting 3.5% of its US workforce

Paramount told employees it would be laying off 3.5% of US-based staff based in the US, per a memo reported by CNBC on June 10, citing industry-wide declines and a challenging macroeconomic environment.

The move comes after the media company cut 15% of jobs last year to cut costs. Paramount had 18,600 employees at the end of 2024.

It is awaiting regulatory approval of its merger with Skydance Media.

Peloton is looking for $100 million in run-rate savings by next year

Peloton said in its August earnings report that it would cut its global headcount as part of an effort to find $100 million in run-rate cost savings by the end of the next fiscal year.

"As of today, we will have actioned about roughly half of the run rate savings through the reductions in our workforce and we expect to achieve the remainder throughout the balance of the year," CFO Elizabeth Coddington told investors on the earnings call.

The company employed about 2,900 people last year, and approximately 6% of the workforce will be affected by the reductions, Reuters reported.

Porsche is cutting 3,900 jobs over the next few years

Porsche said on March 12 that it plans to cut 3,900 jobs in the coming years.

About 2,000 of the reductions will come with the expiration of fixed-term contractor positions, the German automaker said. The company will make the other 1,900 reductions by 2029 through natural attrition and limiting hiring, it said.

Porsche said it also plans to discuss more potential changes with labor leaders in the second half of the year. "This will also make Porsche even more efficient in the medium and long term," the company said.

PwC is laying off approximately 2% of its US workforce

The Big Four accounting firm said it's cutting roughly 1,500 jobs in the US because its low attrition rates mean not enough people are leaving by choice.

PwC's layoffs began on May 5 and mostly affect the firm's audit and tax lines, a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

"This was a difficult decision, and we made it with care, thoughtfulness, and a deep awareness of its impact on our people, appreciating that historically low levels of attrition over consecutive years have made it necessary to take this step," a PwC spokesperson said.

Salesforce is cutting more than 1,000 jobs

Bloomberg reported in February that Salesforce, a cloud-based customer management software company, will slash more than 1,000 jobs from its nearly 73,000-strong workforce.

Affected employees will be eligible to apply to open internal roles, the outlet reported. The company is hiring salespeople focused on the company's new AI-powered products.

The cuts come despite Salesforce reporting a strong financial performance during its third-quarter earnings in December.

Salesforce did not respond to a request for comment.

Scale AI is cutting 14% of its workforce

On July 16, Scale AI laid off about 200 full-time employees and 500 contractors, according to the company.

The 200 full-time cuts make up 14% of the data labeling startup's 1,400-person workforce.

The company is restructuring its generative AI group, according to an email from Scale's interim CEO, Jason Droege, obtained by Business Insider.

The cuts follow Meta's $14 billion investment in Scale AI in June as part of a blockbuster deal. The deal included the hiring of Scale's ex-CEO, Alexandr Wang, and the purchase of equity in almost half of the startup.

Sonos cuts about 200 jobs

Sonos, a California-based audio equipment company, said in a February 5 release that it's cutting about 200 roles.

The announcement came nearly a month after Sonos CEO Patrick Spence stepped down following a disastrous app rollout. Interim CEO Tom Conrad said in the statement that the layoffs were part of an effort to create a "simpler organization."

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan announced in February that the company is laying off 15% of its corporate staff, or about 1,750 employees.

He said affected workers will keep their pay, benefits, and bonuses through late April, when the separations will take effect.

The company told investors the cuts would save about $210 million this year and $300 million in 2026.

The move comes as Southwest tries to cut costs amid profitability problems. Jordan said this is the first significant layoff the company has had in its 53-year history.

An activist hedge fund took a stake in Southwest in June and has since helped restructure its board and change its business model to keep up with a changing industry. For example, it plans to end its long-standing open-seating policy to generate more seating revenue.

In recent months, the company has also reduced flight crew positions in Atlanta to cut costs.

Starbucks is laying off 1,100 corporate staff

Starbucks planned to notify 1,100 corporate employees that they had been laid off on February 25.

CEO Brian Niccol said in a memo that the layoffs will make Starbucks "operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration."

The layoffs won't affect employees at Starbucks stores, the company said.

Niccol told employees that layoffs were on the way in a separate memo in January. The company is trying to improve results after sales slid last year.

Stripe laid off 300 employees

Payments platform Stripe laid off 300 employees, primarily in product, engineering, and operations, according to a January 20 memo obtained by BI.

Chief people officer Rob McIntosh said in the memo that the company still planned on growing its head count to about 10,000 employees by the end of the year.

UPS is cutting 20,000 jobs

UPS announced on April 29 that it plans to cut 20,000 jobs this year — about 4% of its global workforce — as part of a shift toward automation and a strategic reduction in business with Amazon.

"With our action, we will emerge as an even stronger, more nimble UPS," the company's CEO, Carol Tomé, said in a statement.

The move follows a sharp 16% drop in Amazon package volume in Q4 and is part of a plan to halve its Amazon business by mid-2026. UPS will also close 73 US buildings by June and automate 400 facilities to reduce labor dependency.

The Teamsters union have said they would fight any layoffs affecting its members.

The Washington Post cut 4% of its non-newsroom workforce

The Washington Post eliminated fewer than 100 employees in an effort to cut costs, Reuters reported in January.

A spokesperson told the news agency that the cuts wouldn't affect the newsroom: "The Washington Post is continuing its transformation to meet the needs of the industry, build a more sustainable future and reach audiences where they are."

Wayfair laid off 340 tech employees

Wayfair announced in an SEC filing on March 7 that it would eliminate its Austin Technology Development Center and lay off around 340 tech workers.

The reorg comes as the technology team has accomplished "significant modernization and replatforming milestones," the company said in the filing. Wayfair said it plans to refocus resources and streamline operations to promote its "next phase of growth."

"With the foundation of this transformation now in place, our technology needs have shifted," the company said.

Wayfair expects to take on $33 to $38 million in costs as a result of the reorganization, consisting of severance, cash employee-related costs, benefits, and transitional costs.

Workday cut more than 8% of its workforce

Workday, the human-resources software company, said in February that it is cutting 8.5% of its workforce, or around 1,750 employees. The layoffs came as the company focuses more on artificial intelligence.

In a note to employees, CEO Carl Eschenbach said that Workday will focus on hiring in areas related to artificial intelligence and work to expand its global presence.

"The environment we're operating in today demands a new approach, particularly given our size and scale," Eschenbach wrote. He said that affected employees will get at least 12 weeks of pay.

Is your company conducting layoffs? Got a tip?

Have a tip? Contact Dominick Reuter via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

Microsoft has owned GitHub since 2018, but the widely used developer platform has operated with at least a little independence from the rest of the company, with its own separate CEO and other executives. But it looks like GitHub will be more fully folded into Microsoft's organizational chart starting next year—GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke announced today that he would be leaving GitHub and Microsoft "to become a founder again."

"GitHub and its leadership team will continue its mission as part of Microsoft’s CoreAI organization, with more details shared soon," Dohmke wrote. "I’ll be staying through the end of 2025 to help guide the transition and am leaving with a deep sense of pride in everything we’ve built as a remote-first organization spread around the world."

Axios reports that Microsoft isn't directly replacing Dohmke, and GitHub's leadership team will be reporting to multiple executives in the CoreAI division.

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The best laptops for college students

• Microsoft targets Meta employees in AI talent war, internal documents show.
• The software giant has an internal list of its most-wanted Meta engineers.
• Microsoft also has a new process, and special budgets, to make its AI job offers more competitive.

Microsoft is going after Meta's AI talent.

The software giant has compiled a list of its most-wanted Meta engineers and researchers, and is starting a new process intended to make offers more competitive, including a mandate to match Meta's compensation for top talent, according to insiders and internal documents viewed by Business Insider.

Microsoft recently reported blowout earnings, sending its market valuation toward $4 trillion, thanks in large part to excitement around generative AI. Microsoft needs to lure top AI engineers and researchers to keep that success going. The company has cut thousands of employees this year but has insisted its headcount will remain flat, suggesting significant hiring plans.

Matching Meta offers is no small feat. The social-media company has been making nine-figure offers for top AI talent. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said Meta is offering $100 million signing bonuses to his engineers, and Meta has recently hired AI researchers with pay packages as high as $250 million.

Microsoft documents viewed by Business Insider show the software company is making multimillion-dollar offers, and two people familiar with the process say multimillion-dollar on-hire bonuses for AI talent are becoming more common.

Microsoft AI, a team run by former Google DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman, and CoreAI, another Microsoft group overseen by ex-Meta engineering boss Jay Parikh, have special recruiting teams to help with competitive offers, these people said. They asked not to be identified discussing sensitive, private matters.

Parikh's organizational chart, recently viewed by Business Insider, shows much of his roster includes executives with whom he overlapped at Meta.

A spreadsheet of Microsoft's most-wanted Meta employees lists individuals by name, location, and position, and includes tabs for teams and positions that Microsoft is targeting such as Reality Labs, GenAI Infrastructure and Meta AI Research. The spreadsheet is being shared among hiring managers on certain AI teams, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Microsoft has started a new process for competitive offers, asking recruiters to mark candidates as "critical AI talent," which gets the attention of higher-ups who respond with Microsoft's top offer within 24 hours.

Documents viewed by Business Insider show how that process works, such as providing "offer rationale" about the candidate's AI skills and experience, using a private "compensation modeler" to come up with a bespoke range for the candidate, and enlisting a compensation consultant.

The new process could help Microsoft compete with AI talent outside of its traditional pay ranges.

Business Insider recently published Microsoft's internal pay guidelines for engineers and researchers. The highest compensation package includes $408,000 in salary, $1.9 million in on-hire stock awards, nearly $1.5 million in annual stock awards, and annual cash bonuses as high as 90%.

Those documents included an important carve-out for competitive situations, such as cases involving top AI talent, where recruiters can seek approval for higher offers for exceptional candidates.

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I kid you not, we wrote these words in 2014:

Microsoft has tried to dumb down its Control Panel with a simple UI over the years, rather than a list of options, but there’s still a number of settings that don’t exist in the new PC Settings app. “Why do I have to go the PC settings to forget a network and Control panel to change IP settings? Can’t this all be done from a single place?” It’s a fair criticism, and one that Microsoft should look to address with Windows 10.

But the Control Panel still can’t die. The latest features to migrate, as of today’s Technical Preview: clock settings; time servers; formatting for time, number, and currency; UTF-8 language support toggle, keyboard character repeat delay, and cursor blink rate. You can also see mobile app notifications (not just texts and calls and photos) in the relatively recently added Phone Link section of the Start Menu.

OpenAI officially launched its new GPT-5 models today, and Microsoft is now bringing GPT-5 to Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Azure AI Foundry, GitHub Copilot, and more. It’s part of a big simultaneous release of GPT-5 that will show up in Copilot as the new smart mode that I detailed in Notepad last month.

The new smart mode in Copilot allows the AI assistant to switch models for you to use deeper reasoning or quickly respond based on the task. Much like how OpenAI is making GPT-5 available to free users of ChatGPT, Copilot will also have free access to GPT-5.

Microsoft 365 Copilot users will also get access to GPT-5 today. “With GPT-5, Microsoft 365 Copilot is better at reasoning through complex questions, staying on track in longer conversations and understanding the user’s context,” explains Microsoft in a blog post. Copilot Studio will also get access to GPT-5 as part of today’s releases.

GitHub is also bringing GPT-5 to all paid GitHub Copilot plans today, allowing developers to try out the code writing improvements to OpenAI’s latest model. OpenAI’s new GPT-5 model comes in four different versions, and has big improvements in reasoning and code quality. GPT-5 is designed for logic and multi-step tasks, while GPT-5-chat is tuned for enterprise applications with multimodal context-aware conversations.

Finally, Microsoft is also making GPT-5 available through Azure AI Foundry, so developers can utilize it in AI-powered apps. Developers will be able to use the model router in Azure AI Foundry “to ensure the right model is used” for the task or query.

Earlier this year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella moved with haste to get engineers to test and deploy DeepSeek's R1 model on Azure AI Foundry. It was an unusually quick turnaround for a new model on Azure that also set a new bar for success.

A few months later, Nadella then pushed to onboard xAI's Grok 3 models, in a deal that saw them arrive on Azure AI Foundry just in time for the first day of Microsoft's Build developer conference in May. Elon Musk even appeared during Nadella's Build keynote, in a somewhat jovial conversation about his early days as a Microsoft intern - despite Musk making Microsoft a defendant in his lawsuit against Open …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Framework has built a name for itself by taking the locked down world of laptops and making them modular, upgradable, and repairable. So it's surprising - and maybe even controversial - the way that Framework has approached its first desktop: it's made a PC that's actually less modular than most.

Don't worry; this isn't a Mac Mini situation, where mere mortals are not meant to touch the innards of such a brilliant little computer. But it's not a traditional small form factor PC, either.

The Framework Desktop is impressively small for what it offers. It's around the size of a couple hardcover novels standing on your desk. Its black-and-silv …

Read the full story at The Verge.

• Endex, the first AI agent tool for Microsoft Excel, raises $14 million led by OpenAI's startup fund.
• Endex said the tool would be capable of hour-long tasks and "change how financial analysts do work."
• It is unclear whether this tool is welcomed by Microsoft, both an investor and competitor to OpenAI.

OpenAI just helped fund an AI tool that could reduce your stress when staring at a huge spreadsheet.

A venture fund launched by OpenAI to invest in early-stage tech companies has led a $14 million funding round for Endex, a startup that said it has created an AI agent that will exist in Microsoft Excel and help you process data, handle financial tasks, and write memos.

"Finance professionals don't just need search results; they need structured thinking and deep analysis," said Tarun Amasa, CEO of Endex and recipient of the Thiel Fellowship, in a statement. "We envision a future where every firm has access to teams of digital analysts, seamlessly augmenting time-intensive workflows."

Based on OpenAI's blog post, Endex is powered by OpenAI's reasoning models.

In a video that Amasa posted on X to announce Endex's product launch on Wednesday, a screen displaying the word "Microsoft Excel" was replaced after a screen glitch to display "Endex," followed by a brief demonstration of how the AI agent works by Amasa.

In the following posts, Amasa also said his team has spent a large portion of last year in OpenAI's San Francisco office and has offered to send limited early invites to users who comment beneath the posts.

Microsoft and OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how the AI agent would impact the Excel product.

The two companies have both competed and collaborated over the years.

Microsoft has invested over $13 billion in OpenAI since 2019 and is considered one of the company's biggest backers. In exchange, Microsoft has access to OpenAI's intellectual property and the right to resell it to customers through Azure's OpenAI service and by building its own products with the technology, including its AI assistant, Copilot.

But as OpenAI builds its own service products like ChatGPT Enterprise and developer tools, it has also started to compete directly with its long-time investor. In 2024, Microsoft began to list OpenAI as a competitor in its annual report.

"What excites me most about this collaboration is our shared vision for vertical-specific AI," said Amasa. "Our work goes beyond APIs — it's about building the agent-user interfaces that will change how financial analysts do work."

Jurassic World: Archipelago is a new expansion pack for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 that lets aspiring pilots explore Isla Nublar and the five islands of the fictional Muertes Archipelago featured in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies. Created by Australian developer Orbx, which is known for its flight sim add-ons, the expansion will let you visit many locations from the films while the islands will be teeming with more than 10 different species of dinosaurs.

According to an FAQ on Orbx’s website, the Jurassic World: Archipelago expansion is an official collaboration with Universal Products & Experiences and will be available sometime in late August or early September of this year. It will initially launch for all versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on Xbox and PC, but it will be compatible with the entry-level Standard Edition, which is also available through Xbox Game Pass. The studio says it’s also “working towards making compatible products for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and X-Plane 12.”

The expansion lets you visit the six islands — Nublar, Sorna, Matanceros, Peña, Tacaño, and Muerta — as they were before the events of 2015’s Jurassic World, “when the park is operational but not everything is under control.” You’ll be able to fly over Isla Nublar and see the park alive with activity, while the breeding facilities on Isla Sorna, as seen in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, remain abandoned and overgrown.

Jurassic World: Archipelago includes new flying challenges like transporting VIPs between the islands and nearby Costa Rica, as well as conducting guided tours. You can visit the facilities and theme park structures seen in the various films and land at recognizable airfields and helipads, all while dodging the local wildlife that includes brachiosaurus, stegosaurus, velociraptors, tyrannosaurus rex, and flying pteranodons.

• Microsoft may require employees to return to the office more often.
• The new policy could kick in at Microsoft's headquarters as soon as January.
• The shift aligns with increased performance demands at Microsoft and in the tech industry broadly.

Microsoft is considering a stricter policy on office attendance, and the software giant could implement this as soon as January for some employees, according to people with knowledge of the plans.

Implementation dates could vary across Microsoft's offices, but the company is considering requiring employees at its Redmond, Washington, headquarters to work from the office more often starting in January, the people told Business Insider.

The company is still finalizing the details and had been planning to make an announcement as soon as September, the people added. They asked not to be identified discussing private matters.

Microsoft has had a flexible work policy since late 2020, letting most employees work remotely for as much as 50% of the time without approval. In practice, this policy has been much more flexible, allowing most employees to work remotely most of the time.

Now, the company is considering a new policy that requires most employees to work in the office at least three days a week, the people with knowledge of the plans told BI.

Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw confirmed the company is considering updating its flexible work guidelines. He said no decisions have been finalized.

Getting in line on RTO

Such a move would bring Microsoft more in line with other Big Tech companies, which have been rolling out tougher RTO policies this year.

Amazon, Microsoft's crosstown rival, mandated a rigid RTO policy earlier this year that required employees to work in-person five days a week. AT&T introduced a similar policy late last year and CEO John Stankey recently told staff to get on board or get out.

The policy Microsoft is considering would be similar to those at Meta and Google, which generally require most employees to work from offices three days a week. Some Microsoft teams, such as the Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) group, already work in the office more than three days a week.

More pressure on employees

Cracking down on remote work is part of a broader trend in the tech industry that includes increased employee-performance pressure at Microsoft and other companies.

Microsoft's cloud and AI boss Scott Guthrie told employees in an internal meeting last September that the company would not consider changing its flexible work policy unless there was a noticeable drop in productivity.

It's unclear whether that's happened, but what is clear is that Microsoft's approach to employee performance has changed since then. The company fired thousands of employees deemed low performers this year and introduced a new performance improvement plan meant to exit low performers more quickly.

Microsoft's top finance executive Amy Hood last week told employees in an internal memo that the upcoming year will require "intensity," building on an earlier memo from CEO Satya Nadella asking employees for "dedication, drive, and hard work."

Microsoft sells software that enables remote work, and has pitched hybrid work as a way to reduce costs, retain employees, and increase their productivity.

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If you want a great laptop, you’re going to have to fork over a ton of money, right? Not necessarily. There are dozens of good laptops on the market at various price points. However, it can feel overwhelming to find the right one for your needs (some are better suited for, say, college students, whereas others are ideal for gamers).

That’s why we’ve come up with this list of some of the best laptop deals available right now. In addition to the latest discounts, we’ll share each discounted model’s best features (and downsides) to give you more clarity during your shopping journey. And if you need to do more research, you can also check out our guides to the best laptops on the market and the top gaming laptops.

The best laptop deals

Apple MacBook deals

M1 MacBook Air

2020 MacBook Air with M1 (256GB)

The 2020 MacBook Air has been discontinued but remains a great value. It comes outfitted with the company’s original M1 chip in one of three different colors (silver, space gray, and gold).

Where to Buy:

• $649 $599 at Walmart

Apple itself no longer sells the 13-inch MacBook Air with M1 — and hasn’t for years — but you can still get this solid laptop for $599.99 ($50 off) at Walmart. The 2020 model is available in one configuration, with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but it’s still capable at handling basic tasks like a champ, including streaming video, browsing, and dealing with documents. You can also use the M1 MacBook Air for creative work in Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, Logic, and Pixelmator, though you may experience slowdown due to its low 8GB of memory.

The laptop’s battery lasted between eight and ten hours when we originally reviewed it, and those figures should be mostly accurate, barring some differences likely caused by operating system updates. In addition to offering great performance for its price, the laptop also comes with other nice-to-have features, including a comfortable keyboard and an excellent trackpad. Just note its 720p webcam isn’t particularly good, so if a high-resolution webcam matters a lot to you, you may want to buy one separately. Also, be aware that, due to the limitations of the M1 chip, you can only use one external display at a time and port selection is also more limited than newer models.

M2 MacBook Air

13-inch MacBook Air with M2 (2022)

The 2022 MacBook Air is a thin, lightweight device powered by Apple’s M2 chip. The M2 model touts an improved 1080p webcam and a better display than its predecessor while retaining features like long battery life and MagSafe charging.

Where to Buy:

• $799 $699 at Best Buy (16GB RAM, 256GB SSD)

Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air with the M2 chip is a significant leap above the M1 model it succeeded, both in terms of design and performance. The old wedge-shaped look was replaced for a more squared-off design that’s still used by the current-generation MacBook Air. It has a 1080p webcam, which was a welcome improvement given the disappointing camera on the 2020 M1 model. It’s also much lighter and thus more portable as well, yet it retains features like MagSafe charging and Touch ID, as well as a nice display.

Despite its age, the M2 processor inside of this machine is still powerful enough to handle many tasks, from common ones such as browsing to more complex and creative projects. Compared to newer, pricier models, this one unsurprisingly struggles with gaming. That being said, it’s capable of running Cyberpunk 2077. The entry-level 13-inch MacBook Air with M2 launched with 8GB of RAM, but that configuration became unavailable last year when Apple made 16GB the new standard.

While a well-rounded laptop overall, there is one key area where Apple’s M1 model is better: storage. The base M2 MacBook Air with 256GB of storage is actually slower than its predecessor because it’s stored in a single NAND chip. This was corrected in subsequent MacBook Air models, so the slowdown is unique to M2 machines with 256GB of storage. Also, be aware as well that port selection isn’t great, and the included display notch — which is also found on both the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros — can make using the menu bar more challenging until you get used to it. If that doesn’t bother you, however, you can get a configuration with 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, an 8-core CPU and GPU for $699 ($100 off) at Best Buy.

M4 MacBook Air

Apple MacBook Air 13 (2025, M4)

The M4 MacBook Air has a speedy processor, and double the RAM of previous models. It has a thin and light design, all day battery life, and still starts with 256GB of storage.

Where to Buy:

• $999 $799 at Amazon
• $999 $799 at Best Buy

The 13-inch MacBook Air with M4 is Apple’s latest thin and lightweight laptop, and it’s our top pick in The Verge’s guide to the best laptops right now. It’s not a MacBook Pro, but Apple’s M4 processor in the Air is still mighty capable. In our tests, it only throttled under heavy load from creative applications, which is understandable given its fanless design. The machine comes with 16GB of RAM as standard rather than an optional upgrade, but the base configuration still comes with just 256GB of storage, so be mindful of that limitation if you work with a lot of larger files.

Apple hasn’t increased the number of ports on a MacBook Air since reintroducing MagSafe to the M2 model in 2022, but this generation has Thunderbolt 4 ports rather than Thunderbolt 3 for faster file transfer speeds. Another notable addition is the 1080p Center Stage camera from the MacBook Pro, so you’ll stay in frame if you move around on a video call. Battery life should last all day, though your experience will vary depending on how hard you push this machine.

You can currently get a configuration of the 13-inch with M4 with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and a 10-core CPU and GPU for $799 ($200 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. If you need a larger screen, you can get the 15-inch MacBook Air with the same specs for $999 ($200 off) at Amazon and Best Buy.

M4 and M4 Pro MacBook Pro

14-inch MacBook Pro with M4

The entry-level MacBook Pro with M4 starts with 16GB of RAM — double that of its predecessor — and a 512GB SSD for the same starting price of $1,599. It also gets a third USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 port and comes in a new space black option.

Where to Buy:

• $1599 $1299 at Best Buy
• $1599 $1399 at B&H Photo

14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with a 12-core / 16-core M4 Pro chip starts with 24GB of RAM — a 6GB increase over the prior generation. It also has a 512GB SSD, three Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports, an optional nano-texture display, and a 12-megapixel webcam.

Where to Buy:

• $2499 $1786.5 at Amazon (24GB RAM, 512GB SSD)
• $2499 $1799 at B&H Photo (24GB RAM, 512GB SSD)
• $1999 $1799 at Best Buy (24GB RAM, 512GB SSD)

16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro

The 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro starts with 24GB of RAM and offers more computing cores (14 for the CPU and 20 for the GPU) compared to the 14-inch model. It also picks up Thunderbolt 5 ports and a new 12-megapixel Center Stage camera.

Where to Buy:

• $2499 $2234 at Amazon (24GB RAM, 512GB SSD)
• $2499 $2249 at B&H Photo (24GB RAM, 512GB SSD)

The M4 generation MacBook Pros are Apple’s fastest laptops yet. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 starts with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, and comes equipped with three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, and a MagSafe charging port. It can send video to two external displays simultaneously (the previous generation could only handle one) and has an improved 12-megapixel Center Stage camera with better video quality.

The M4 MacBook Pro and M4 MacBook Air run on the same chip, but the Pro’s cooling system is better, so it handles resource-intensive tasks (including games) without throttling as easily. The laptop’s 14.2-inch screen is bright (up to 1,600 nits when viewing HDR content), and supports the P3 color gamut, both of which are important to professionals who rely on color accuracy when editing photos and video. The display has a 120Hz refresh rate, so scrolling through webpages or moving windows around should appear smoother than 60Hz screens. In our stress test, which included editing 33-megapixel RAW images and working with a large photo library in Adobe Lightroom, the laptop ran for 12 hours without kicking up the fans or feeling hot to the touch.

If you want even more power, you can jump up to the 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro processor. It comes with 24GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a 12-core CPU, and a 16-core GPU. The M4 Pro MacBook Pro has over twice the memory bandwidth of the base M4 MacBook Pro, so it should perform better across the board. That said, it might be tough to notice the benefits of its extra memory and processing power during casual use, but it will come in handy when you’re pushing the laptop to the limits while video editing or playing games. It has three Thunderbolt 5 ports, and you can use that extra bandwidth with an external SSD with fast transfer speeds, to name an example. You can also get the MacBook Pro with M4 Pro with a 16-inch screen if you’d like to work on a larger display.

Right now, the 14-inch M4 model with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU is $1,299 ($300 off) at Best Buy and $200 off at B&H Photo. You can get a 14-inch M4 Pro model with 24GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, 12-core CPU, and 16-core GPU for around $1,786 at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo. The 16-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro with 24GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, 14-core CPU, and 20-core GPU is currently on sale for around $2,234 at Amazon and B&H Photo.

Microsoft Surface deals

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition

The 13.8-inch Surface Laptop is Microsoft’s closest rival to the MacBook Air, using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chipsets for exceptional battery life.

Where to Buy:

• $1199.99 $999.99 at Amazon (X Plus, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD)
• $1399.99 $1099.99 at Best Buy (X Elite, 16GB RAM, 512 SSD)

We chose Microsoft’s 7th Edition Surface Laptop as one of the best laptops you can get because it’s the top Snapdragon Copilot Plus PC we’ve tried yet. The laptop runs on a power-efficient ARM processor that doesn’t skimp on performance. Its 13.8-inch 2,304 x 1,536 120Hz screen supports Dolby Vision HDR (High Dynamic Range) and looks very nice. It has a large, precision haptic trackpad that gives you plenty of room to tap and swipe, an offers satisfying feedback no matter where you press it.

The laptop has a pair of USB 4 ports, one USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 port, plus a headphone jack. One of the concerns of using an ARM-based Windows PC has been software compatibility, but this model proves that’s no longer something to be as worried about. It runs Photoshop, and apps compiled for X86 processors work thanks to Microsoft’s Prism emulator. Be sure to check the compatibility of the specific Windows app you rely, though, as there’s still a chance they won’t work as intended.

Even after our toughest tests, the battery lasted seven hours. That’s with 100 percent screen brightness, after downloading multiple Steam games, attending video calls, and running through multiple projects in Photoshop. Using the laptop with less power-hungry apps, including Slack, WhatsApp, Discord, and Chrome, the laptop used just 30 percent of its battery in seven hours. For the best battery life, you’ll want to stick to using native ARM apps when possible. If you want to make the switch to an ARM-based laptop to get some of the benefits MacBook users have had for years, the 7th Generation Surface Laptop is worth checking out.

You can get a 13.8-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop (7th Edition) with a Snapdragon X Plus processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD for $999 ($100 off) at Amazon. A model with the Snapdragon X Elite processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD is on sale for $1,099.99 ($300 off) at Best Buy.

Acer laptop deals

Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714

Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714

Acer’s Spin Chromebook is configured with Intel’s first generation of processor with an NPU. It also has Google Gemini baked right into the OS, and if you sign up for a new Google One AI premium plan, your first year of service is free.

Where to Buy:

• $799 $629 at Best Buy

Verge reviewer Antonio G. Di Benedetto chose Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 714 as one of the best laptops for students because it offers an excellent balance of power, battery life, specs, and value. It’s also made the cut in our guide to the best Chromebooks because it supports Google’s Gemini smart assistant, and comes with a one-year subscription to Google’s One AI premium service. The current-generation laptop is a solid choice a year after it was released thanks in part to its Intel Core Ultra 5 Series 1 processor, which allows you to run Linux apps instead of being limited to software solely available through Google’s Play Store.

On to the specs: The laptop has a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 resolution touchscreen display, which can be flipped 180 degrees, so you can use the laptop as a large tablet if you prefer. The Plus Spin 714 has two Thunderbolt 4 ports and an HDMI port, which is an acceptable array of ports for a Chromebook. However, it only has 8GB of RAM, which will likely be a performance bottleneck if you intend to keep dozens of tabs open.

If your needs are relatively light and you don’t mind working mostly in the cloud instead of with local files, this is a solid computer. You can grab the Chromebook Plus Spin 714 for $629 ($170 off) at Best Buy.

Asus laptop deals

Asus Zenbook S 16

Asus Zenbook S 16

The Asus Zenbook S 16 features AMD’s Ryzen AI mobile processors. It’s one of the thinnest and lightest 16-inch laptops available and doesn’t cut corners on performance. It’s a mighty machine that can handle all sorts of heavy workloads with ease and grace.

Where to Buy:

• $1799.99 $1299.99 at Asus (Members Only)

We chose Asus’ Zenbook S 16 as another one of our top recommendations for students, but it’s a solid laptop for anyone who wants a large-screened Windows laptop. In our tests, the 16-inch 120Hz 3K (2,880 x 1,800) OLED display emits vivid colors and excellent contrast. The laptop was more than capable of handling common tasks, including video chats using its 1080p webcam, music streaming, but its graphics and gaming performance is what really sets it apart from laptops in its size and price classes.

This machine runs Cyberpunk 2077 at around 77 frames per second with the resolution set to 1080p with AMD’s FSR 2.1 upscaling software turned on. The laptop isn’t designed for gaming, but it’s good to know it’s up to the task if you’re willing to turn down some graphical settings. The Zenbook S 16’s battery lasted 11 hours during our testing. However, the percentage indicator in the Windows taskbar would often fluctuate, making it difficult to pin down exactly how much juice was left.

You can get a configuration of the laptop with 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor for $1,299.99 ($500 off) from Asus if you sign up for a free Asus membership. We signed up for the membership, and it took about five minutes from start to finish.

Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (2025, RTX 5080)

Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (2025, RTX 5080)

Asus’ ROG Strix Scar 16 is a powerful gaming laptop configured with a 16-inch 2.5K 240Hz screen, Nvidia 5080 graphics card, Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage.

Where to Buy:

• $3299.99 $2999.99 at Amazon
• $3299.99 $2999.99 at Best Buy
• $3299.99 $3099.99 at Walmart

If you want to take a powerful gaming PC with you on the go, Asus’ ROG Strix Scar 16 is one of the best we recommend. It has a 16-inch 240Hz Mini LED display with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. The screen can’t quite match an OLED when it comes to rich contrast, but you get Dolby Vision HDR here, and its color accuracy impressed us in our tests. The laptop has larger keys instead of a number pad, which makes sense for a gaming-focused laptop. If you need a number pad, you can bring up a touch-sensitive one by clicking and holding the top part of the laptop’s large trackpad.

Under the hood, Asus fitted the ROG Strix Scar 16 with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, 32GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card with 16GB of dedicated video memory. The laptop’s display supports Nvidia’s G-Sync technology, so you shouldn’t see screen tearing or other graphical anomalies when playing games. The laptop has three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, an ethernet port, and two Thunderbolt 5 ports. You can use either the HDMI 2.1 port or Thunderbolt 5 ports to carry a 4K 120Hz video signal to a compatible TV or gaming monitor.

In case aesthetics matter to you, the ROG Strix Scar 16 has RGB lighting on its underside as well as a dot-matrix LED array that can display animations on its lid. These features aren’t new, but each can add some flair to your setup. Right now, you can get the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 in its base configuration for around $2999.99 ($300 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart.

Update, August 5th: Updated pricing and availability, and added new deals on Apple’s MacBook Air with M4, the MacBook Pro with M4 Pro, the Asus Zenbook S 16, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16, Microsoft’s 7th Generation Surface Laptop, and Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 714.

Microsoft just posted the fourth and final quarter of its 2025 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $76.4 billion in revenue and a net income of $27.2 billion during Q4. Revenue is up 18 percent, and net income has increased by 24 percent.

Like clockwork, cloud services are the strong point of Microsoft’s revenue this quarter. Azure revenue grew 39 percent year-over-year, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says “Azure surpassed $75 billion in revenue” for the entire financial year, up 34 percent.

The impressive cloud earnings come just weeks after the software maker laid off as many as 9,000 employees earlier this month. Microsoft says it employed 228,000 people on a full-time basis as of June 30th, the same amount as 2024 before the most recent layoffs.

Windows and Surface revenue

The PC market is still feeling the effects of the Trump tariffs and consumer spending, while businesses look to refresh PCs ahead of Windows 10’s end of support in October. As a result, Windows OEM and devices revenue is up 3 percent year over year, driven by growth in Windows OEM revenue.

Gartner said earlier this month that PC shipments were up more than 4 percent in the recent quarter, thanks to a Windows 11 refresh cycle for desktop PCs. Microsoft primarily makes money from Windows through OEM revenue, the price that manufacturers pay to license Windows for laptops and PCs.

While this time last year Microsoft’s Surface revenue had been in decline for two years, Microsoft started combining Windows and devices revenue together during this past financial year, so it’s still not clear how Surface is performing. Microsoft CFO Amy Hood did reveal on the company’s earnings call today that devices revenue is expected to decline next quarter, alongside a Windows OEM revenue decline in the “mid to high single digits.”

Microsoft did launch two new Surface devices in the recent quarter, though: the 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop. Both devices launched midway through the quarter, so the full impact of sales on Windows OEM and devices revenue won’t be felt until next quarter.

Xbox and gaming

Xbox content and services revenue, which includes Xbox Game Pass, is up by 13 percent this quarter. Microsoft still isn’t revealing any new Game Pass subscriber numbers, though, and the last time we got an update was in February 2024, when Microsoft revealed there were 34 million subscribers, including Xbox Game Pass Core (previously Xbox Live Gold) members.

Microsoft has been aggressively pushing ahead with its strategy to bring more previously Xbox-exclusive games to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch over the past year. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is arriving on PS5 next month, alongside the original Gears of War as a remastered version. Microsoft also launched Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 earlier this year, as well as Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, Age of Mythology: Retold, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

While the move to bring more Xbox games to PlayStation might have angered some fans, it has proven to be a successful choice. Preorders for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Forza Horizon 5 topped Sony’s own PlayStation Store earlier this year, and Circana revealed this week that Microsoft had six of the 10 top-selling games on PlayStation in the recent quarter.

“We are now the top publisher on both Xbox and PlayStation this quarter,” said Nadella on an earnings call today. Nadella also revealed “Game Pass annual revenue was nearly $5 billion for the first time,” and confirmed that Microsoft has 500 million monthly active users across gaming platforms and devices.

Xbox hardware is still struggling, though. Xbox hardware revenue is down 22 percent this quarter, despite a busy period for Game Pass. Microsoft increased the prices of its Xbox consoles and controllers worldwide in May, with the Xbox Series X bumped by $100 to $599.99.

Overall gaming revenue at Microsoft is up 10 percent year-over-year, and has increased by $2 billion for the entire fiscal year. Xbox content and services revenue has also increased by 16 percent for the fiscal year, but Xbox hardware revenue has decreased by 25 percent in the fiscal year “driven by lower volume of consoles sold.”

Microsoft’s Xbox everywhere strategy — which I’ve been covering closely in my Notepad newsletter over the past year — will also include titles for the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s possible we might even see one during Nintendo’s Switch 2 partner Direct tomorrow.

Looking ahead, Microsoft is also heading to the Gamescom show next month, where it will let attendees play with its new Xbox Ally handheld devices. A playable demo of the long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong will also be available on the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, as well “a couple more surprises at the show from our partners too.”

In Q1 fiscal 2026, Hood expects Xbox content and services revenue to decline in the mid single digits, alongside an overall gaming revenue decline in the mid to high single digits.

Office and cloud

Microsoft 365 commercial cloud revenue grew by 18 percent year-over-year, driven by growth in revenue per user and in part to Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. The January price increase to Microsoft 365 consumer plans has also contributed to 20 percent of growth in Microsoft 365 Consumer cloud revenue. There are now 89 million Microsoft 365 consumer subscribers, up 8 percent year-over-year.

It’s Microsoft’s cloud growth that’s really the story this quarter once again. Azure and other cloud services grew by 39 percent, a big jump that was driven by growth across all workloads, according to Microsoft. Server products revenue declined 2 percent, a sign that Microsoft’s customers are increasingly moving to its cloud offerings.

Nadella noted on Microsoft’s earnings call that every Azure region is now AI-first, and all regions support liquid cooling.

LinkedIn revenue was also up 9 percent this quarter, with sessions also growing by 7 percent. Microsoft says it has also seen “record engagement” with LinkedIn this quarter. Even Microsoft’s search and news advertising revenue is up 21 percent, after it has overhauled Bing with AI-powered results and features.

• Microsoft's top finance executive sent an internal email to workers calling for "intensity" in 2026.
• Last week, another memo from the CEO attempted to explain big job cuts in the midst of huge profit.
• On Wednesday, Microsoft reported a quarterly profit of $27 billion.

Microsoft employees should strap in for another year of "intensity," according to the software giant's top finance executive.

Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood sent an email to employees on Wednesday after the company reported a $27 billion quarterly profit, telling them the year ahead will require "intensity, clarity, and bold execution."

Hood sends out these emails every quarter when Microsoft discloses its financials. Her missives mostly rehash what the company reports publicly, such as how revenue and profit are growing.

Sometimes, though, Hood's emails provide insight into what the company's top executives deem most important and what they want employees to know.

This time, Hood highlighted updates she said were personal "reminders of the scale and importance of the product and services our customers count on us to deliver." She noted that Azure revenue reached more than $75 billion — the first time the company has disclosed this number — and grew 34%.

What perhaps stood out most was Hood's message to employees, reiterating priorities for the upcoming year, and citing a memo from CEO Satya Nadella last week.

"We're entering FY26 with clear priorities in security, quality, and Al transformation, building on our momentum and grounded in our mission and growth-mindset culture," Hood wrote, mentioning Nadella's email. "Both the pace of change and customer expectations are continuously accelerating."

Hood's email, notably, did not mention Microsoft's recent workforce cuts, which have exceeded 10,000 this year even as profit swells. Nadella's email last week attempted to explain this "seeming incongruence" as the "enigma of success." Some employees weren't satisfied with the explanation.

Hood's email expanded on Nadella's thoughts by telling employees the upcoming fiscal year will require "intensity," which has become a buzzword in the tech industry as companies dial up performance pressure and make significant workforce cuts.

"FY26 will require intensity, clarity, and bold execution," Hood wrote. "I'm excited about what we'll accomplish together as we lead in this next frontier of innovation — driving impact at scale for every customer, every partner, and every community we serve around the world."

Microsoft did not comment on Hood's memo.

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• Microsoft reported its fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday.
• Shares in the tech giant jumped after earnings came in above estimates.
• CEO Satya Nadella said that cloud and AI continue to drive the company's growth.

Microsoft isn't slowing down.

The world's second-largest company by market cap reported blockbuster fourth-quarter earnings, sending shares surging so high after hours that the tech giant became a member of the exclusive $4 trillion club.

Shares were up over 9% after hours following Microsoft's strong earnings report. As a result, Microsoft joined Nvidia as the only other company to reach over $4 trillion in market cap.

Microsoft reported fourth-quarter revenue of $76.4 billion and earnings of $3.65. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected quarterly revenue of $73.89 billion and earnings of $3.37 per share.

CEO Satya Nadella said that cloud and AI continue to fuel the company's growth.

"Cloud and AI is the driving force of business transformation across every industry and sector," Nadella said in a statement. "We're innovating across the tech stack to help customers adapt and grow in this new era, and this year, Azure surpassed $75 billion in revenue, up 34 percent, driven by growth across all workloads."

CFO Amy Hood said during the earnings call that "demand remains higher than supply" as Microsoft races to bring more data centers online.

Wednesday's earnings look different than those in the past. That's because for the first time, Microsoft detailed the revenue it is making from Azure, its cloud computing platform.

The company was so famously tight-lipped about how much revenue its Azure cloud generates that even former CEO Steve Ballmer once called for more transparency.

Microsoft said it would spend $30 billion in capital expenditures in the coming quarter, more than analysts expected.

"I feel very good that the spend that we're making is correlated to basically contracted, on-the-books business that we need to deliver," Hood said during the earnings call.

Ahead of the release, analysts said that they were paying close attention to Microsoft's capital expenditures, particularly since Google said it would spend $85 billion. Tech companies continue to push capex spending higher amid fierce competition over the future of AI.