Microsoft Exits Pakistan After 25 Years Amid Global Restructuring, Former Head Calls It a ‘Sobering Signal’

In a significant development for Pakistan’s tech industry, Microsoft has announced the closure of its local office after 25 years, opting instead to manage operations remotely through regional hubs and authorized resellers. The decision is part of the company’s global workforce reduction strategy and mirrors its model in other markets. While the move has raised concerns in Pakistan’s already fragile tech sector, Microsoft has assured that existing customer agreements and services will continue without disruption, and the quality of support will remain unchanged.

Microsoft’s decision to shut down operations in Pakistan is a troubling sign for our economic future. I vividly recall February 2022, when Bill Gates visited my office. On behalf of the people of Pakistan, I had the honor of conferring the Hilal-e-Imtiaz on him for his remarkable… pic.twitter.com/T4SMkp6Mn0
— Dr. Arif Alvi (@ArifAlvi) July 3, 2025

Microsoft’s decision to shut down its Pakistan office, though impacting only five local employees, has sent a strong symbolic message to the country’s business and tech sectors. The team, primarily handling enterprise sales for services like Azure and Office, operated without a development or engineering base—unlike Microsoft’s expansive presence in India. The closure is seen less as a workforce issue and more as a reflection of diminishing confidence in Pakistan’s attractiveness to global tech firms.

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This local exit comes amid Microsoft’s broader global restructuring, which recently saw over 9,000 job cuts worldwide. Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting attributed the decision to this global downsizing, although the company had already begun shifting core functions like licensing and contract management to Ireland in recent years. Former Microsoft Pakistan head Jawwad Rehman urged the government to take corrective action, warning, “Even global giants like Microsoft find it unsustainable to stay.”

Sadly, another international business exits Pakistan — this time, it’s Microsoft. Just a few years ago, during the previous government, they were expanding here (photo from 2018 when I inaugurated their Islamabad office). Today, wrong regime, wrong indicators, wrong direction… pic.twitter.com/sELLDR2o0D
— Sayed Z Bukhari (@sayedzbukhari) July 3, 2025

Microsoft Pakistan’s founding head, Jawwad Rehman, confirmed the company’s exit in a reflective LinkedIn post, calling it the end of an era. Rehman, who launched Microsoft’s Pakistan operations in June 2000, described the journey as the most rewarding of his life. However, he stressed that the exit was “more than a corporate one,” pointing to the challenging environment in Pakistan that has made it difficult even for global giants to sustain operations. “It’s a sobering signal of the environment our country has created,” he wrote, also suggesting that missed opportunities and a lack of follow-through by later teams contributed to the withdrawal.

While companies like Google continue investing in local education and even exploring manufacturing in Pakistan, Microsoft’s exit highlights a deeper issue: Pakistan’s struggle to position itself as a reliable player in the global tech economy. Unlike India, which has built a robust IT export infrastructure, Pakistan remains dependent on regional players and lacks the policy consistency and stability needed to attract long-term investment from global tech giants.

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