Microsoft cuts 'hundreds' in last wave of planned 18,000 layoffs
Microsoft cuts 'hundreds' in last wave of planned 18,000 layoffs
Summary:Microsoft has laid off 'hundreds'
of its employees, many of whom worked in the company's IT division, in
what may be the last wave of the 18,000 job cuts it announced last July.
The Seattle Times reported on the latest round of layoffs
on April 4. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed those cut were notified
on Thursday, April 2, with most of those cut being part of Microsoft's
IT group.The Times quoted an e-mail from Microsoft chief information officer Jim DuBois,
who said the IT cuts were designed to "remove role overlap, optimize
activities and functions, align disciplines with the rest of Microsoft,
and, perhaps most importantly, reshape IT for the skills we need to
transform."
Microsoft officials announced last July that the company planned to cut 18,000 jobs, the largest layoff in Microsoft's history.The layoffs occurred over several rounds -- July, September and October.
"We
expect this to be the last of the anticipated broad cuts as part of the
restructuring plan announced last July," a Microsoft spokesperson told
me on April 5, via e-mail.
Earlier rounds focused on those who
joined Microsoft as part of the Nokia handset and services acquisition.
Other teams hit by various layoff rounds included Microsoft's Operating Systems Group, Microsoft Research, Xbox, MSN and other engineering and marketing positions.
Microsoft officials said 12,500 of the 18,000 employees who were cut came from those who joined the company as part of the Nokia acquisition.
Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 30 years
for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She
is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in
the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008). She also is the
cohost of the "Windows Weekly" podcast on the TWiT network.
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