Microsoft shifts focus to cloud and mobile, plans biggest layoff in company history from Suzanne Kattau. Microsoft is planning its biggest round of job cuts in five years, Bloomberg reported today. The reduction of thousands of jobs may end up being the biggest restructuring in Microsoft history as the company looks to integrate Nokia Oyj’s handset unit, as well as shift Microsoft’s focus to mobile devices, cloud computing and productivity software. The job cuts are rumored to happen in Microsoft’s Nokia division as well as in divisions that overlap with that business, according to Bloomberg’s sources inside Microsoft (who asked not to be identified). Jobs in Microsoft’s marketing and engineering departments could also be cut. The job cuts might be officially announced as early as the end of this week, the sources said. Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst at Enderle Group Under new CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft is restructuring. “But Steve Ballmer already did a rather substantial downsizing before he left,” said Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst at the Enderle Group, “suggesting much of the rest should just be realignment to the new mission of focusing more on cloud, mobile, tools and productivity apps.” Microsoft’s new mission to which Enderle refers was unveiled last week on July 10 by Nadella via a company memo to employees. In the mission statement, Nadella wrote that “engineering and organization changes” are needed at Microsoft. He wrote how the new Microsoft shall “relentlessly focus on and build great digital work and life experiences” with specific focus on “dual use” and that their “cloud OS infrastructure, device OS and first-party hardware will all build around this core focus.” To accomplish these goals, in the memo Nadella asks employees to “find ways to simplify and move faster” and to “develop leaner business processes.” He asks management “to evaluate opportunities to advance their innovation processes” and to “simplify their operations.” He added that all of the “changes” will be explained more over the course of July. The last time Microsoft undertook a company-wide restructuring was in January 2009 when they announced they were eliminating 5,000 jobs in R&D, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and IT over an 18-month period. Microsoft isn’t the only tech giant who has eliminated thousands of jobs in recent years. As SiliconANGLE reported, Hewlett-Packard laid off 27,000 employees and Sony laid off 10,000 employees in 2012. Cisco laid off up to 11,500 employees and Nokia laid off 17,000 employees in 2011. . Photo credit: visionshare via photopin cc Rob Enderle photo courtesy of the Enderle Group
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 22:36:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015