Microsoft gearing up for massive job cuts in the run up to Windows 10

tech2 News StaffJul 08, 2015 19:12:09 IST

Over the past couple of years, a lot has happened at Microsoft. Since the acquisition of Nokia, Microsoft has embarked on a massive layoff of 18000 people. 5000 out of those were Microsoft employees, and the remaining were from Nokia.

During this crucial phase, there was a notable shift in Microsoft's business strategy. Microsoft has and is the leader in the computing business. However, a big challenge was that although PC was on the decline, mobile devices have been on the upswing.

Satya Nadella and Stephen Elop

In an infamous memo, Stephen Elop had said, "We plan that this would result in an estimated reduction of 12,500 factory direct and professional employees over the next year. These decisions are difficult for the team, and we plan to support departing team members with severance benefits." Last month, it was reported Elop was moving out of Microsoft.

The New York Times has reported that there will be additional layoffs at Microsoft. It said, "The layoffs are in addition to the roughly 18,000 employees that Microsoft said it planned to let go a year ago, according to people briefed on the plans who asked for anonymity because the details were confidential. The new job cuts are expected to affect people in Microsoft’s hardware group, among other parts of the company, including the struggling smartphone business that it acquired from Nokia last year in a $7.2 billion deal."

Could Satya Nadella lead Microsoft through the most crucial phase at Microsoft? He’s brought about a refreshing change to the company. From holding an iPad during product demos to opening up Microsoft Office to Android and iOS, and recently even bringing Visual Studio Code for Linux! There is little doubt that Microsoft is sending the right signals. Finally. Nadella is pivotal in the transformation of Microsoft, earning very high approval ratings from a majority of stakeholders. Despite all the painful decision of having to let go of a vast workforce.

Recently, it was reported that key Bing Map technology was acquired by Uber, while its ad business was acquired by AOL. There is no doubt that restructuring the business the very high in priority at Microsoft right now, and given that Windows 10 is its most important launch till date, balancing out the whole process smoothly is critical.