HUNT VALLEY MICROSOFT GAMING EMPLOYEES OUTRAGED BY MASS LAYOFFS

the flag for every employee Microsoft laid off across all its studios. That includes many who worked here at ZeniMax in Hunt Valley. Now, they're calling on Microsoft to do the right thing. The clock is ticking for many employees at Microsoft owned ZeniMax in Hunt Valley. As they get closer to their last day. In a round of layoffs, Microsoft announced they'll be eliminating 4,800 jobs. That includes laying off 3,200 people across its Xbox division. The first phase of these layoffs already affecting 1,600 people. Like Jordan Goldfarb. It's been rough. The job market right now is not a good place to be. Goldfarb joined a crowd of his co-workers outside ZeniMax Tuesday, protesting Microsoft's actions. Microsoft's mission to empower every person with layoffs. Microsoft destroys families. Microsoft runs on trust. Layoffs. Our players deserve better. Microsoft's mission to empower every person with layoffs. Microsoft empowers unemployment. Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3 to 10 times lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected. As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset XBOX. Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3 to 10 times lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected. As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset XBOX. Goldfarb begs to differ. We knew the money is there to fund us. Xbox made 22 billion in revenue last year. Satya Nadella had over 90 million in salary last year. The Communications Workers of America union representing the gaming employees filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board over violations of status quo protections. They were supposed to engage in intentional bargaining with us before making any sort of changes of this magnitude. They did not. We've, that's illegal. They're getting paid until their last day on September 6th. So, there's some hope that negotiations will extend the wind-down period so that we can continue to get things, or they'll be done by then and we'll get our severance wins. But if one of those two things doesn't happen, it's bad. So, we're hoping that we can get some motivation from Microsoft to represent, to bargain at the table and work with us, not against us. I've reached out to Microsoft for a response to the union's legal action. They haven't gotten back to me yet. In Hunt Valley, Raven Payne, WMAR-2 News.