Microsoft Lays Off 2,100, Axes Silicon Valley Research, Microsoft Corp will close its Silicon Valley R&D operation as part of 2,100 layoffs announced, as it moves toward its new CEOs goal of cutting 18,000 staff, or about 14% of its workforce. News of the closure of the Microsoft Research lab at the companys campus in Mountain View, CA, was first made public on Twitter by employees. Firm later confirmed the move and said it would involve the loss of 50 jobs. A spokesman said Microsoft Research, which has over 1,000 scientists and engineers worldwide working on new product ideas, will consolidate its US work at Microsofts main campus in Redmond, Washington, and in offices in NY & Boston. After the cuts, Microsoft said it will still have 2,500 employees at its Mountain View campus, not far from rival Google Inc. Microsoft is cutting 160 jobs in CA, and another 747 in the Seattle area, a spokesman said, as part of a total of 2,100 layoffs around the world. This is the second wave of cuts after it laid off 13,000 in July, which marked the start CEO Satya Nadellas plan to lay off 18,000 people overall. That means 2,900 more layoffs coming over the next nine months or so. Thursdays cuts were spread over different countries and teams, the spokesman said. The last wave of cuts mostly affected the handset business of Nokia, which Microsoft bought earlier this year.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 02:30:01 +0000