SUMMARY

• Salary increases frozen for Microsoft full-time employees
• Bonus and stock awards to return to historical averages
• Microsoft hones in on AI market with OpenAI investment and Azure infrastructure

As the tech world slows down a bit, Microsoft has decided to put the brakes on salary increases for full-time employees, according to an email from CEO Satya Nadella. It seems like even the big dogs need to tighten their belts these days, with other tech giants like Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta making cutbacks too.

Last year, the ripple effects of inflation saw Microsoft nearly doubling their budget for merit increases and dishing out more stock allocations. But this year, things are gonna be a bit more chill. Nadella said in his email that bonuses and stock awards will be maintained, but they won't be quite as generous as last year.

While Microsoft's top brass won't be raking in as much dough in performance bonuses, the company's focusing on a different kind of growth: artificial intelligence. Nadella's excited about Microsoft's role in driving the AI revolution and is embracing the challenges that come with a dynamic, competitive environment.

Microsoft's making some pretty sweet moves in the AI space, like their multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI back in January. OpenAI relies on Microsoft's Azure cloud to run its wildly popular ChatGPT chatbot and provide GPT-4-powered apps for Microsoft and other companies.

So even though Microsoft's revenue growth might be slowing down a tad, they're still making strategic investments in AI infrastructure, like Azure. And hey, who doesn't love a good underdog story?

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