Microsoft cuts 800 more jobs
Microsoft said on Wednesday that it is notifying approximately 800 workers that their jobs are being eliminated as the software giant completes the layoffs it announced earlier this year.
In January, Microsoft said it would cut approximately 5,000 positions before the end of the next fiscal year, which ends in June. With the latest cuts, Microsoft said it has essentially completed those layoffs. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in May that it was mostly, but not entirely, done with the job eliminations.
Actually, though, the latest cuts will push Microsoft past that 5,000 number. Once these cuts are made, it will have eliminated approximately 5,800 jobs since January, said Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos.
Wednesday's job cuts were spread across multiple businesses and around the globe, Gellos said. Microsoft didn't announce any specific products that are getting the axe as a a result of Wednesday's cuts, although it has cut a variety of products in recent months, including Microsoft Money, Windows Live OneCare and, just this past week, its small business accounting product line.
There could also be additional cuts, even as Microsoft does some hiring in key areas. Although January's layoffs were the company's first across-the-board cuts, it regularly reviews its businesses and makes adjustments as necessary, Gellos said.
"We'll manage our businesses closely and do the things that we need to do," Gellos said.
Update 12:05 p.m. PT: As noted by TechCrunch and others, among those let go on Wednesday was Don Dodge--one of Microsoft's key voices in Silicon Valley and a director on the company's emerging business team. Dodge wrote about the turn of events on his personal blog Wednesday.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
probably contract workers from apple :)
Contract workers are not laid off. Their contracts are canceled. A whole different thing. Layoff means that these were employees.
Care to explain how exactly you lay off contractors?
You can only lay off employees. They can cancel the contracts they have with outside companies who provide contract employees, including self-employed people, but that has nothing to do with layoffs.
In particular, contractors don't get severance pay, and are not subject to layoff protections, etc.
Anybody who has worked as employee and as contractor knows these things, btw.
So Microsoft laid off nearly 6,000 people then.
(I know I'm gonna burn in hell for this, but I gotta ask): I wonder if the new layoff victims will have to give back their severance checks too...
Really, I'm surprised people have difficulties with this concept.
Some FTE's were also released from what I see, but only 200 from the more than 35,000 on campus. Meanwhile, MSFT is actively hiring currrently for other projects so... yeah.
@kojacked: Is name-calling all that you have left, or can I get some strawmen arguments and faux claims of credibility out of you today as well?
I think the concept is difficult because most companies don't announce the ending of contracts. Contract positions are by definition temporary. So when they end, most companies and people would not call that a job cut. If I hire a contractor to build an addition onto my house, nobody would say that I eliminated his job when he finishes the contract and leaves.
So, what's your source that the number includes contractors?
My source is Microsoft. I'm not employed by Microsoft, but have internal access and get the announcements that hte media then use for their articles. What the media uses or doesn't use is up to them.
1600 in the retail arm as of last april, dont think they have done anyhting else since then. that makes for about a 5 percent cut of their employee workforce.
microsoft cuts account for about 6 percent of their workforce.
everyone's hurting.
Why does it matter? Apple and Microsoft are not the same company. The only purpose in your comment I can see is to cause trouble.
Whoa, a bit of an over reaction? Not to mention a violation of the CNET Terms of Service here.
Last time, some people were paid less than they were supposed to, and some were paid more than they should have been.
Microsoft made extra payment to those who received less, but to those who received more they said they could keep the difference.
And to be fair, you should also say that the issue was resolved completely, with many people actually keeping the extra money they were paid by mistake.
Mad Scientist: "You fool! you will die to your ignorance!"
Yeah, that was a pretty good typo indeed. I liked it.
...why should I? It took a public outcry and a shedload of bad PR for the company to do the right thing. It shouldn't take such measures for the right thing to happen, Dan.
I see- so when a company has an issue, you cry out long and loud about their failures, but when they acknowledge the issue, address it to the satisfaction of all those involved, then you'll conveniently ignore that?
Uh huh. So you only really care if it means you can complain about it. That makes a lot more sense now.
Economic stability is what we need in this country. Stop laying everyone off and more people will have money to keep this economy going. Why can't people see this??? Instead we're dead set on creating this goliath of a health care system thats going to send this economy into the toilet. We should be saving this money and incentivising businesses to hire more people, while taxing those who lay off. Use the revenue generated to both give incentives to companies to hire more people, and offer emergency loans to companies who keep employees and coast through the bad economic times.
I am a genius i know. When will people start to wake up and realize how much we're being played.
Peace
MS jacks up the whole market making crap. Point IE cost millions in development costs to make things work with there pile of crap browser. Faster they go the better
No, not Apple software, just another nail in the bloated coffin.
Too bad for the workers though - that sucks - especially before the holidays.
Can't a company like MS afford to keep these folks until next spring?
I mean, they're so successful and have 10s of billions of dollars?
If this were Apple, you asspods would be all over this...but it's not.
The XBox eked out 150 or so million this past quarter. Not really enough to pay the bills, when you think about it.
It more than paid the bills. And they are actively hiring more people for future releases.
You got to spend money to make money.
Someone reading your comments might get the wrong idea that you hate everything and anything about Microsoft. Something to consider when posting.
So spending several billion (or more) on a product (the xbox 360) for 6+ years, and finally getting to a $150m/yr profit when it's about to expire its lifecycle is "making money"?
Not seeing the upside here, Dan.
You're intentionally trying to be dumb and ignorant here to make a point that was pretty weak to begin with. Nobody is buying it though.
It's a good attempt at spin, but again, it just isn't working anymore. Reality trumps fiction.
??? I'm confused by commenters on both sides . . . to quote my 3-year-old: NOT NICE.
Grow up people.
Maybe, maybe not. A lot of corporations (Intel, IBM, Apple, etc) are actually rebounding right now, and are beginning to re-hire.
"Maybe, maybe not. A lot of corporations (Intel, IBM, Apple, etc) are actually rebounding right now, and are beginning to re-hire. "
Microsoft is one of those. Unfortunately a person who is involved in doing marketing or research into developing markets for Win7 releases isn't exactly the person to also be an experienced game developer. Some jobs are lost, others are gained. Right now Microsoft is actively hiring people and expanding their campus.
Nice try at the doom and gloom, but the payroll says otherwise.
These layoffs were the end of them with no new reductions planned, but an expansion happening instead.
First off, can you say the word "Developers" repeatedly? I understand that's a prerequesite.
Or
800 "VISA" holders?
I would expect US workers to keep thier jobs and let the Visa holders go home...
Cuts are typically at the project level - as in "we don't need to do <this> anymore". No attention is paid to nationality of the employee.
Concerning pay scale - working at Microsoft myself and having had many people report to me over the years - the people from other countries who come to MS enter at the same level as people from United States and are subject to the same pay scale under the same job expectations. I know because I do their reviews and know what these people are being paid. Pay scales at MS are based on competitive labor rates in regional markets - so Washington state, for example, pays differently than Texas or North Carolina, or Canada or Ireland or Japan. That labor rate is applied the same way to all FTE in a region regardless what country they came from.
I know making up ideas about MS undercutting pay by hiring from the outside is fun to do, but you don't have the facts right.
By the way, I hear a bridge in New Jersey is for sale...
Microsoft goes back and forth between having the biggest v.s. second biggest market cap of any company in the world. The fluctuation is based on the price of oil - I believe it is Exxon/Mobil that keep trading place with MS on this front.
Microsoft was almost the only company to sustain a profit during the internet bubble burst of 2000. Not only did it turn a profit - its profits grew.
Microsoft's profits have grown every year since it existed with the exception of this last year - that exception being driven by a down economy where across the board customers were buying fewer computers in general. Despite that hit in growth, MS still made a massive profit.
Are there challenges out there for Microsoft? Of course. Is the competitive landscape for Microsoft more difficult and challenging than it has ever been? Yes. Microsoft's competitors are smarter, faster and more able to execute than they have ever been in the past. This in no way is a nail in the coffin for Microsoft. The money keeps rolling in from all the sectors that matter to its business and shows no sign that it is going to stop coming. If anything, the market should be relieved the competition is heating up for Microsoft because it forces Microsoft to make better product.
Finance 101 - $150M or so profit (after the bills have been paid). Prorate that for the year and you are looking at $600M profit. In this economy most businesses would love to see that kind of profit.
Wasn't Microsoft calling Linux "Un-American" at some point?
- <a href="http://edgetechs.blogspot.com/">EdgeTech </a>
For example, MSDINING is set by a headcount number. Their contract saiys they will prepare meals for X number of employees. if that number changes, then the contract would have to be changed and that's not an easy or quick process as these contracts are set for 3-5 years in length between renewals
If these "cuts" are part of the initial plans of MS' executives for 2009 than these cuts are FTEs, as it was announced at the beginning of the year.
Enough of this - apples or oranges... They are all fruits!!!
What makes me chuckle is the hype of how much MS is hiring now days. It's not true. Good luck applying for their "careers." It's "who you know" - that is how it works at MS. Forget OFCCP regulations...
- by Renegade Knight November 5, 2009 2:09 PM PST
- A good company who really is hiring would make a huge effort to turn some of the ones being laid off back into the hiring pool so they never had to be laid off to begin with. Especially when the lay off is an arbitrary number across the board.
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