Tech giant Microsoft is set to lay off approximately 5% of its staff, according to British publication Sky News.

Microsoft currently employs more than 220,000 people which means upwards of 10,000 employees could be laid off.

It plans to announce the layoffs this coming Wednesday ahead of the release of its quarterly earnings report.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that Microsoft wasn't immune to global changes.

“The next two years are probably going to be the most challenging,” Nadella noted.

In July 2014, Microsoft announced plans to lay off 18,000 employees. Microsoft employed 127,104 people as of June 5, 2014, making this about a 14 percent reduction of its workforce as the biggest Microsoft lay off ever. This included 12,500 professional and factory personnel.

In September 2014, Microsoft laid off 2,100 people, including 747 people in the Seattle–Redmond area, where the company is headquartered. The firings came as a second wave of the layoffs that were previously announced. This brought the total number to over 15,000 out of the 18,000 expected cuts.

In October 2014, Microsoft revealed that it was almost done with the elimination of 18,000 employees, which was its largest-ever layoff sweep.

In July 2015, Microsoft announced another 7,800 job cuts in the next several months.

In May 2016, Microsoft announced another 1,850 job cuts mostly in its Nokia mobile phone division.

As a result, the company will record an impairment and restructuring charge of approximately $950 million, of which approximately $200  million will relate to severance payments. (ILKHA)