Microsoft Offers Buyouts to 60,000 as AI Spending Grows

Early Votes Top 31 Million as Trump Offers Fraud Reward

Judge Rejects Maurene Comey Firing as New Case Targets Her Father

Anthropic Files for IPO as Revenue Surges

Israel Votes as Netanyahu Calls for Toppling Iran’s Government

Microsoft Offers Buyouts to 60,000 as AI Spending Grows

Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts Monday, Oct. 26, to about 60,000 employees in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom, roughly a quarter of its workforce. Eligible employees have until early December to decide, and those who accept will leave Dec. 31 with benefits similar to a standard severance package, according to news reports. The company said the offer applies to selected teams, and the number of employees who will accept remains unknown. The program follows a smaller voluntary retirement offer earlier this year, about 15,000 layoffs in 2025 and another 4,800 job cuts in July. The latest offer comes as Microsoft invests heavily in artificial intelligence and data centers, bringing its workforce costs into focus as it finances that expansion.

Microsoft / CNBC / Axios

Early Votes Top 31 Million as Trump Offers Fraud Reward

The University of Florida Election Lab’s Oct. 26 update tallied about 31.5 million early ballots across 48 states and Washington, D.C., ahead of the Nov. 3 election that will decide control of Congress. Its state totals included about 4.54 million ballots in Texas, 3.15 million in Florida, 1.58 million in North Carolina and 1.21 million in Michigan, with reporting dates varying by state. President Donald Trump separately announced Monday that he would pay $1 million for tips about voter fraud in past elections or the upcoming midterms that lead to an arrest and conviction. The funding source remained unclear, and the White House provided no additional details about the offer, ABC News reported.

UF Election Lab / Georgia Secretary of State / South Carolina Election Commission / ABC News

Judge Rejects Maurene Comey Firing as New Case Targets Her Father

A federal judge ruled Monday, Oct. 26, that the Justice Department unlawfully fired former Manhattan prosecutor Maurene Comey, who worked on the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases and is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. Trump fired James Comey in 2017 while the FBI was investigating possible ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign, and Comey later became a prominent critic of the president. Judge Jesse Furman rejected the administration’s claim of unrestricted firing power and ordered Maurene Comey retroactively reinstated with back pay through Dec. 20, 2025, when she took a private-sector job. The department said it would appeal, leaving the ruling as a test of legal protections for career prosecutors. Separately, a Washington judge unsealed two Espionage Act charges against James Comey over an alleged 2016 disclosure about government email surveillance. Prosecutors contend their filing without a grand-jury indictment preserved a 10-year deadline, while Comey’s lawyers dispute that claim and deny wrongdoing.

ABC News / CBS News / CNN

Anthropic Files for IPO as Revenue Surges

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, filed Monday, Oct. 26, for an initial public offering and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol ANT. The company reported revenue of $16.3 billion for the first half of 2026, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier. Reuters Breakingviews reported that quarterly revenue rose from about $4.7 billion in the first quarter to $11.6 billion in the second and $16.8 billion in the third, a roughly 45% increase over the previous quarter. Multiplying that reported third-quarter figure by four implies a $67.2 billion annualized revenue run rate, a calculation that assumes sales hold at that pace and does not establish contracted recurring revenue. Its $80.7 billion first-half net loss included roughly $72 billion in noncash accounting adjustments tied to the rising value of convertible securities, rather than operating spending. The offering remains unpriced, although press reports suggest a valuation as high as $2 trillion, setting up a test of investor demand for financing the AI industry’s expansion.

Anthropic / SEC / AP / Reuters Breakingviews

Israel Votes as Netanyahu Calls for Toppling Iran’s Government

Israelis voted Tuesday, Oct. 27, for the 120-seat Knesset in the country’s first national election since the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, and the Gaza war that followed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced a challenge led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, with final polls showing neither camp assured of the 61 seats needed for a majority. The outcome will help shape a key U.S. ally’s decisions on Iran, Gaza and the West Bank, with consequences for American forces, diplomacy and military aid. In a Channel 14 interview ahead of the vote, Netanyahu said he had instructed the military and Mossad intelligence agency to work toward toppling Iran’s government. He denied reports of a clash with military chief Eyal Zamir over an unspecified Iran operation, while Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel did not intend to attack Iran before the election unless Iran struck first. Polls are scheduled to close today, Oct. 27, at 10 p.m. local time, or 4 p.m. EDT, with coalition negotiations potentially taking weeks or months.

AP / NPR / Times of Israel

October 27, 2006: Chick-fil-A Founder Takes Last Ford Taurus

On this day, the final Ford Taurus rolled off the assembly line in Hapeville, Georgia, with its keys handed to 85-year-old Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy. He added the silver sedan to his personal car collection at the company’s Atlanta headquarters, as the plant’s closure cost 1,500 workers their jobs.

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Sources

1. Microsoft / CNBC / Axios
2. UF Election Lab / UF Election Lab state data / Georgia Secretary of State / South Carolina Election Commission / ABC News
3. ABC News / CBS News / CNN
4. Anthropic / SEC / AP / Reuters Breakingviews
5. AP — election / NPR / AP via PBS — Iran remarks / Times of Israel