Microsoft is offering around 60,000 buyout offers. That is 27% of the company considering Microsoft has around 220,000 employees. This also happened at Intel – buyout offers. These are usually excellent packages to take if you’re thinking of leaving or if you’re close to retirement. Which is kind of the point – help those wanting to find the door take it.

However, buyouts are also are often precursors of extensive layoffs depending on how many people take them up on the offer.

When a company is willing to gladly walk 1/3 of its employees to the door with a check today – this is a company looking to offload a LOT of workers. You have to wonder when the involuntary exits (layoffs) will start. I suspect it will be shortly after this program ends.