Xbox CEO who laid off thousands will advise the Federal Reserve on productivity and jobs

Under Asha Sharma, Microsoft's Xbox division has seen massive layoffs and structural changes in recent months.

Asha Sharma xbox ceo — Image via Microsoft

The United States Federal Reserve is forming five new task forces to advance the conduct of monetary policy. These task forces, led by Chairman Kevin Warsh, include U.S. business leaders and college professors. Interestingly, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who has been making headlines over the past few weeks due to massive layoffs, is also a member of the Productivity and Jobs task force.

As per the Federal Reserve announcement, the Productivity and Jobs task force will be responsible for assessing “the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve's policy judgments.”

The head of Xbox at Microsoft, along with Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, professor of economics at Stanford University who currently works at Anthropic, are members of the Federal Reserve's Productivity and Jobs Task Force.

“Each task force will carefully consider whether policymakers' means and methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved upon. I am honored that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution,” said Chairman Kevin Warsh.

Asha Sharma is the former head of Microsoft's CoreAI division, but earlier this year, she became the new Xbox CEO, replacing Phil Spencer. Sharma's name has been tied to the massive layoffs at the Xbox unit in recent months. Earlier this month, it was announced that Microsoft planned to cut less than 2.5% of its workforce, with the Xbox unit among the divisions expected to see the largest cuts.

Last week, Sharma announced the "most significant restructure in Xbox history." As a result, around 3,200 Xbox employees will be laid off. Also, at least four gaming studios will either part ways with Xbox or be sold to another company.

Of course, Microsoft has been laying off staff for several years now, and this isn't a new policy introduced under Asha Sharma's leadership at Xbox. For example, Microsoft laid off about 650 employees from its Xbox unit in 2024.