Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been appointed to a Federal Reserve task force about “Productivity and Jobs.” The announcement came just a few days after she announced mass layoffs at the company, which impacted nearly 3,200 employees.
Social media reacts:
The news prompted social media users to share a range of remarks. An individual commented, “According to this logic, I should also be hired. I was laid off and I have experience with that sort of thing.” Another posted, “We are not going to make it, are we?”
A third expressed, “This is a joke, right?” A fourth wrote, “Nothing about this makes sense.”
About the federal task forces:
In a press release, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh named “external advisers” who will lead different task forces. The team Sharma is joining is about “productivity and job”.
The official statement explains: “Productivity and Jobs: Assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve’s policy judgments.”
The members include, Marc Andreessen, cofounder and general partner, Andreessen Horowitz, Charles I. Jones, professor of economics, Stanford University, currently on leave at Anthropic, and Asha Sharma, executive vice president and XBOX CEO, Microsoft Corp.
“The Federal Reserve’s commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor,” said Chairman Kevin Warsh while announcing five task forces.
“The U.S. economy has changed significantly over the last generation, and never more so than right now. 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. The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time.”
About Xbox layoffs:
On July 6, Asha Sharma took to X to share a note she said she had shared with her employees. “We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27. This will include approximately 1,600 role eliminations today, and in addition, four studios will leave XBOX to new management. I recognize that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day, and I wanted to be direct about the scale,” she wrote as a part of the statement.
