Microsoft is building a new team of approximately 6,000 people to help businesses deploy artificial intelligence at both the technology and strategic levels.
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AI Land Grab: Anthropic's New York Team Expands to 1,000, Manhattan Landmark Buildings Seek Acquisition from AI Giants
According to Beating, Anthropic announced the lease of a 16-story office building in Hudson Yards, Manhattan, with plans to double its local team to 1,000 people this year. The new office, located at 330 Hudson Street, spans approximately 466,000 square feet, a 30-fold increase from its existing 15,500 square feet. This transaction is not an isolated case; Manhattan is experiencing a land grab by artificial intelligence companies. Data from real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield shows that in the first quarter of 2026, the leased office space for the artificial intelligence industry in Manhattan reached 1.03 million square feet, exceeding the total for the entire year of 2025. The proportion of artificial intelligence in local tech industry office leasing has also surged from 20.9% in 2024 to 55.9%. Besides Anthropic, OpenAI and legal AI startup Harvey have also previously leased large office spaces in Manhattan.
Microsoft is laying off 4,800 employees, with Xbox accounting for approximately 3,200 of the job cuts.
According to Mars Finance, Microsoft announced it will cut 4,800 jobs, approximately 2.1% of its global workforce. The Xbox gaming division is the hardest hit, with 1,600 jobs laid off on July 6th and another 1,600 expected to be cut this fiscal year, totaling about 3,200 positions. Asha Sharma, who took over as Xbox CEO in February, admitted to employees that the business is currently unhealthy, stating that Xbox's profit margin is three to ten times lower than comparable platforms and publishing businesses, and rising component costs have intensified competition with Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Switch. Microsoft will also spin off four previously acquired studios: Compulsion Games and Double Fine will operate independently, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs will be transferred to new owners, partially reversing the gaming empire built three years ago with its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Chief People Officer Amy Coleman stated that the company launched a buyout program in April, and over one-third of eligible employees accepted. Microsoft's stock price has fallen by about 19% in the past six months.
Amazon AWS establishes a $1 billion AI FDE team to emulate the enterprise AI deployment models of OpenAI and Anthropic.
BlockBeats reported on June 30th that Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the creation of a new Forward-Deployed Engineer (FDE) organization and will invest $1 billion in internal resources to help enterprise customers deploy customized AI agents and related systems. AWS stated that FDE engineers will be directly stationed at customer companies, responsible for building AI applications, optimizing workflows, and helping customers build the ability to independently develop and operate AI systems, rather than simply delivering and maintaining them. The FDE model was first promoted by Palantir and has rapidly gained popularity in recent years due to the growing demand for enterprise AI deployment. Previously, OpenAI and Anthropic also launched related FDE joint ventures, with sizes of approximately $4 billion and $1.5 billion respectively. Unlike the two companies, which formed joint ventures with private equity firms, AWS's $1 billion investment this time primarily comes from internal resources and is not an independent investment project. --------------------------------- Click the original link below to join the Beating · Lark AI news channel and monitor global AI hot topics and news 24/7.
Microsoft announced it will invest $2.5 billion in its Applied AI Consulting division.
According to Odaily Odaily, Microsoft announced a $2.5 billion investment in its new "Applied AI Consulting and Solutions" division to help businesses deploy and customize AI software more efficiently. This $2.5 billion investment addresses the challenges many large enterprises face in AI applications, including complex configurations, difficulty in adapting to business scenarios, and unclear returns on investment. Microsoft stated that the new team will focus on enterprise-level AI deployment, including model customization, system integration, and business process optimization, to improve the usability and commercial value of AI in real-world production environments. The market believes this move further indicates that AI competition is expanding from model capabilities to a new phase focused on "deployment and monetization capabilities." (TechCrunch)
Microsoft is mobilizing 6,000 employees to form a new department to help customers adopt artificial intelligence.
Odaily Odaily reports that Microsoft (MSFT.O) is forming a new 6,000-person division to help enterprises with the technical and strategic work of deploying artificial intelligence. Microsoft stated that the division's employees will possess extensive experience in engineering, corporate training, and management, as well as industry-specific expertise. Judson Altoff, CEO of Microsoft's Commercial Business, said that closer collaboration with customers will help them implement AI more efficiently and will also inform Microsoft's own product development decisions. (Jinshi)
Millennium's two index trading teams earned approximately $3.7 billion in a single month.
PANews reported on July 6th that, according to Bloomberg, two teams at hedge fund Millennium Management specializing in index rebalancing trades collectively earned approximately $3.7 billion in June, accounting for more than half of the fund's pre-tax profit of approximately $6.6 billion that month. The two teams, led by Glen Scheinberg (New York) and Pratik Madhvani (Dubai), primarily utilize high leverage to manipulate index rebalancing, betting on the inclusion and removal of constituent stocks. In June, events such as the S&P 500 quarterly rebalancing, the Nasdaq 100 quarterly change, Russell's annual rebalancing, SpaceX's "fast-track inclusion," and multi-asset quarter-end rebalancing provided concentrated trading opportunities, driving Millennium's June return to 4.1% and its year-to-date return to 10.5%.