Article by Erik Kain
Update: 7/17/14 – As reports suggested, the layoffs at Microsoft are real and the largest in company history. Up to 18,000 jobs will be cut, with most of the pink slips going out over the course of the next six months. More than half of the cuts are coming from the Stephen Elop’s devices group. /end update
Microsoft is poised to layoff thousands of employees according to a report from Bloomberg, in an effort to remove redundancies from the tech giant.
It will be the largest round of layoffs since 2009.
While many of the cuts will be from the recently acquired Nokia handset division—30,000 jobs were added as a result of the $7 billion deal—marketing jobs in other divisions such as Xbox may also take a hit, according to the sources.
The job cuts are part of CEO Satya Nadella’s sweeping changes to the company, as he transitions away from former CEO Steve Ballmer’s vision of a “devices and services” company toward a “mobile-first and cloud-first” productivity firm.
“Nothing is off the table in how we think about shifting our culture to deliver on this core strategy,” Nadella wrote in a letter to employees. “Organizations will change. Mergers and acquisitions will occur. Job responsibilities will evolve. New partnerships will be formed. Tired traditions will be questioned. Our priorities will be adjusted. New skills will be built. New ideas will be heard. New hires will be made. Processes will be simplified. And if you want to thrive at Microsoft and make a world impact, you and your team must add numerous more changes to this list that you will be enthusiastic about driving.”
In 2009, Microsoft laid of 5,800 employees in the largest round of layoffs at the company to date.
The Nokia acquisition added 30,000 jobs, swelling Microsoft’s employee count to 127,104 as of June 5th.
The upcoming cuts are likely to top the 2009 culling, making this the largest round of layoffs in Microsoft history.
I’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment on this report and will update this post accordingly with any response.
