Microsoft to cut 2,850 more jobs

Microsoft said it would cut about 2,850 more jobs over the next 12 months, taking its total planned job cuts to up to 4,700, or about 4 percent of its workforce.  The company said in May it would cut 1,850 jobs in its smartphone business, most of them in Finland. Microsoft bought Finland-based handset maker Nokia in 2014 in an ill-fated attempt to take on market leaders Apple and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. Chief Executive Satya Nadella, who took the helm just two months before the deal closed, has since focused on restructuring the struggling phone business. Microsoft had about 114,000 full-time employees as of June 30. Last year in July, the company’s planned to **cut 7,800 jobs** , or nearly 7 percent of its workforce, and write down about $7.6 billion related to its Nokia phone business. At the most recent Microsoft  earnings call for the quarter that ended 30 June 2016, amidst all the number crunching, its the cloud segment that clearly stood out. Though the overall revenue from the quarter took a dip, cloud push ensured more than double the revenue from Microsoft Azure services compared to same period last year. Microsoft can boast of 23.1 million Office 365 subscribers, Azure cloud revenue growth by 102 percent and Surface revenue growth of 9 percent. However, the failing Windows Phone business dropped by massive 71 percent. With inputs from Reuters