Microsoft has priced a $25 billion bond sale, its first US investment-grade offering since 2017, just three days after it offered voluntary exit packages to about 60,000 employees. The company says the money will go towards general corporate purposes, including capital expenditure, as its AI data centre bills keep climbing.




The sequence is hard to miss. On the earnings call on Wednesday, CFO Amy Hood said, “We’re fortunate to have access in the debt markets, given where our ratings are, and we haven’t yet tapped that.” The notes were priced a day later in ten tranches maturing between 2028 and 2066, and they are set to close on November 4.



Microsoft’s $25 billion bond sale drew $115 billion in ordersOrders peaked at $115 billion, about 4.6 times the amount on offer, according to people familiar with the deal. Fixed-rate coupons run from 4.85 percent on $2 billion of notes due 2028 to 6.35 percent on $2 billion of notes due 2066. Two tranches are floating-rate notes worth $1 billion each.




Investors had a clear reason to line up. Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson are the only publicly traded US companies with AAA ratings from both Moody’s and S&P. Microsoft last borrowed in this market in 2017, when it raised $17 billion.




It is also the first sale from a major hyperscaler since Alphabet priced $25 billion of debt in August. Meta chose equity instead, raising $25 billion that way. Microsoft also stands apart on cash: it reported positive free cash flow for the quarter, while Alphabet, Meta and Amazon reported negative figures. Hyperscalers and data centre developers had already raised more than $313 billion through investment-grade bonds globally this year, nearly three times the full-year 2025 total.



The voluntary exit offer covers staff in India, the US, Canada and the UKMicrosoft announced the offer on October 26 for eligible employees at level 70 and below in participating teams. That is more than a quarter of its 223,000 full-time workforce. Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said it lets employees “make that transition now with support.” Microsoft calls it time-limited and voluntary.




A source familiar with the plan said eligible teams include AI experiences, Copilot, finance, HR, Xbox and Windows + Devices. Marketing, commercial business and security are excluded.



Amy Hood expects 3,000 or fewer employees to take the buyoutA Microsoft spokesperson said the company expects 3,000 or fewer takers, which is 5 percent or less of those eligible. Hood addressed staff questions in her quarterly earnings memo. She wrote that the aim is to offer employees “agency if they choose to leave the company on their own terms,” and that “we expect very few people to select this offer because of the growth opportunities here at Microsoft.”




Earlier this year, a voluntary retirement offer to about 9,000 US employees was accepted by roughly one-third of those eligible, which helped Microsoft cut fewer people in later layoffs. In July, the company announced 4,800 job cuts, or about 2.1 percent of its workforce, while overhauling Xbox.




The quarter itself gave Hood plenty to work with. Revenue grew 19 percent, operating income rose 21 percent and Azure revenue climbed 48 percent. She said Azure demand continues to exceed supply, and thanked engineering teams working to deliver capacity faster. Microsoft has forecast about $175 billion in capital expenditure for 2026. That is the bill both moves are meant to help cover. Microsoft will detail its AI and cloud plans at Ignite from November 17 to 20.