Microsoft to axe 18,000 jobs

[Jozzle]

News just breaking on the BBC - Microsoft cutting 18,000 jobs, mostly from Nokia. The largest ever job cut in its history.

 

From the quote by Satya Nadella, what exactly would shifting focus towards "online service, apps and devices" mean for the company?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28348223

 

Joe

[Rheinwasser]

wow.

[Guest]

Maybe someone should stop firing all the MS employee's so they can fix the abomination that is MS licensing.

[Simmytu]

Unbelievable, this is going to be painful for those who are in rough financial situation and above that getting fired from Microsoft :unsure:

[Davehaslanded]

"The bulk of the cuts, around 12,500, will be in its phone unit Nokia, which Microsoft bought in April, the firm said."

Sucks for Nokia staff. Wonder if they saw this coming. Essentially they wanted the patents and tech, but not the staff.

[wildy]

Damn ... 

[Guest Kloaked]

I think it'll be fairly easy for those guys to get a job at another manufacturer. Sucks though

[RH00D]

Before anyone tries to demonize Microsoft here, they're being laid off not fired, which means Microsoft is going to be providing them with generous severance packages and is also going to help them in finding new jobs so it's not as if Microsoft is just giving them the old "GTFO". The total severance benefits Microsoft is paying out to employees will be up to $800 Million and the laying off process will be taking place over a 6-month period. The average severance per employee will be $44,000 although in reality some will get more and some less.

 

Details: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2014/jul14/07-17pressrelease.aspx

[Jozzle]

RH00D is right, it's not the same as being fired. Even with redundancy/severance pay etc, it's still a pretty extreme move to axe that many jobs.

[Tataffe]

For perspective: 18k / 127 k = ~14%

[Nick Paviour]

Shame that all of those hard working people are now out of a job.

[Ngrungebb91]

And my dream was to work for Microsoft one day... :(

[terrytek]

Sad, just sad. But on the bright side, like what @RH00D said, the laid off workers get some slack.

[Tech_Dreamer]

Microsoft is the new Linus, Firing his employee 18000 times

[ToxicFire]

"The bulk of the cuts, around 12,500, will be in its phone unit Nokia, which Microsoft bought in April, the firm said."

Sucks for Nokia staff. Wonder if they saw this coming. Essentially they wanted the patents and tech, but not the staff.

Tbh Nokia was Circling the drain way before MS touched it and frankly the company would have probably folded soon meaning far more job losses. It was late in coming to the smartphone market which frankly left them at a severe disadvantage.

[ericlee30]

Wow really makes me sad when corporations, especially one that makes billions, letting people go. Not cool.

[ChrisxIxCross]

News just breaking on the BBC - Microsoft cutting 18,000 jobs, mostly from Nokia. The largest ever job cut in its history.

From the quote by Satya Nadella, what exactly would shifting focus towards "online service, apps and devices" mean for the company?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28348223

Joe

Including Barnacules Nerdgasm look at his twitter =(

https://twitter.com/Barnacules/status/489895908767588352

[SpyRosL]

Including Barnacules Nerdgasm look at his twitter =(

https://twitter.com/Barnacules/status/489895908767588352

And the weird part is that he worked for MS for over 15 years..He wasn't new.

[ChrisxIxCross]

And the weird part is that he worked for MS for over 15 years..He wasn't new.

Yea it's real shame why lay off someone who has proven to be a really good reliable employee when theres thousands of other newer people that they couldve gotten rid of? Not to mention he has a kid with special needs, so I hope hell be able to find another job soon. 

[deathjester]

"The bulk of the cuts, around 12,500, will be in its phone unit Nokia, which Microsoft bought in April, the firm said."

Sucks for Nokia staff. Wonder if they saw this coming. Essentially they wanted the patents and tech, but not the staff.

 

The employees might not have seen it coming, but the higher ups at Nokia most likely did. No big difference. Nokia would have probably done the same thing. That company just isn't what it used to be. 

 

Kind of crazy seeing how some of the asian tech companies have gone down and the speed with which it happened. Sony at one time was THE company to get a TV from, maybe a phone from and their PC business was pretty big for laptops/all in ones. For us older people Walkman was the @$%^ and you were styling if you had one. The Sony store was where you went in the mall to check out awesome Bravia TV's. Nokia was big.

 

Now these companies are pale shadows to what they used to be as far as hardware. Korean companies and other asian companies came out and just demolished them.

[Altecice]

Yea it's real shame why lay off someone who has proven to be a really good reliable employee when theres thousands of other newer people that they couldve gotten rid of? Not to mention he has a kid with special needs, so I hope hell be able to find another job soon. 

 

Bosses dont give a shit about that... sad but true. If he has been there for 15 years it means he would be expensive to keep, they would much rather higher some young new guy for half the money.

[Jozzle]

It's also expensive to lay-off someone who's worked for a company for 15 years. The longer their service, the higher the severence pay etc. If you balance employee experience and cost of seperation, I thought they would have kept him.