Microsoft getting ready to lay off 17% of staff?

Microsoft getting ready to lay off 17% of staff?

Tom Warren on 31 December 2008 - 10:51 · 29 comments & 8153 views

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Fudzilla is reporting that Microsoft is preparing to lay off 17% of its staff by 15th January.

Microsoft currently employs just over 90,000 people across the world and according to an internal source that spoke to Fudzilla, 15,000 of those are expected to be giving marching orders come January 15th. If you do the math that's almost 17 percent of Microsoft's total work force, a pretty big dent.

According to the site, Microsoft's MSN division may be hit the worst along with Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). Could this be paving the way for another Yahoo bid to fill the failing MSN outfit?

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(2 replies) #1 dlegend on 31 Dec 2008 - 11:32

This is major news. I posted about it too on my blog (removed blog spam)

Last edited by creamhackered on 31 Dec 2008 - 12:26

#1.1 Howard on 31 Dec 2008 - 12:25

From your blog:

According to rumors from different sources: â€œThe rumor that Microsoft was set to lay off people in January 15th 2009 is no longer a rumor but a fact."

So there's a rumour that the rumour isn't a rumour? And what's with the blatant plugging of your blog?

#1.2 ZQA on 01 Jan 2009 - 22:01

I hate when people make smart ass remarks, even more-so when they tend to make it sound as if they are not, but many of us know when it happens, and we simply do not need people like this in our community. People are entitled to their own opinion, respect it!

#2 LTD on 31 Dec 2008 - 12:06

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...&hl=layoffs

#3 Kemistry on 31 Dec 2008 - 12:29

Looks like my contract extension is buggered then.... sigh...

#4 blowdart on 31 Dec 2008 - 12:58

Hold in, internal source? Mini Microsoft said this earlier in the week. Want to bet the internal source is mini's blog?

#5 mohan_168 on 31 Dec 2008 - 12:58

This is not a rumour. Lot of my friend's working in Microsoft Bangalore have confirmed this.

#6 bucko on 31 Dec 2008 - 13:07

As long as it's people that don't work and don't pull their weight I'm all for it. I'm glad this recession is teaching people that you can't make money by doing nothing (e.g. browsing the Internet all day at work) although I do feel sorry for people that get made redundant and are very hard workers.

(5 replies) #7 Tom Servo on 31 Dec 2008 - 13:07

Getting rid of the MSN staff. Good riddance.

#7.1 jwjw1 on 31 Dec 2008 - 13:32

I hope Obama doesn't give them a job building bridges or roads..they can't even build a homepage...maybe therre's a job throwing sand-bags on some Levee's in New Orleans.

#7.2 Tom Servo on 31 Dec 2008 - 15:07

jwjw1 said,

I hope Obama doesn't give them a job building bridges or roads..they can't even build a homepage...maybe therre's a job throwing sand-bags on some Levee's in New Orleans.

They're also responsible for ruining MS Money from 2002 or 2003 on, when it was moved to them.

#7.3 +warwagon on 31 Dec 2008 - 16:09

Tom Servo said,

They're also responsible for ruining MS Money from 2002 or 2003 on, when it was moved to them.

Is that when money went to the god damn ugly blue eye burning interface?

#7.4 +dead.cell on 31 Dec 2008 - 17:52

warwagon said,

Is that when money went to the god damn ugly blue eye burning interface?

It burns blue eyes?! F---!!

#7.5 Tom Servo on 01 Jan 2009 - 19:01

warwagon said,

Is that when money went to the god damn ugly blue eye burning interface?

That happened a few years later, but yeah, they're also responsible for this. You can notice the rough time frame it landed into the MSN team's hands by checking for increased advertisement and replacing in application functionality with an embedded browser pointing towards MSN Money.

(3 replies) #8 The Grasshopper on 31 Dec 2008 - 13:09

microsoft? they make to much money. how in the world are they losing money? i call shenanigans.

#8.1 excalpius on 31 Dec 2008 - 13:47

Indeed, where does the current economic climate lead to moronic analysts wanting to know how "MS will contain costs"? MS have to continue shipping products and doing R&D on the next gen products. Since their profit margins on software are so astronomically high, and they have massive cash reserves, why exactly would MS cut anything right now? They are going to sell less for the next few years due to the recession/depression, but that's normal. I guess it's designed to keep the total NET profit as high as possible, even though MS fundamentals haven't changed an iota...ahem.

#8.2 The Grasshopper on 31 Dec 2008 - 13:50

excalpius said,

I could not have said it any better!

#8.3 jwjw1 on 31 Dec 2008 - 14:03

"Microsoft's MSN division may be hit the worst along with Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)."

MS can't afford to employ europeans at the rate the EU is suing them...LOL

(1 reply) #9 Airlink on 31 Dec 2008 - 14:17

Don't fool yourselves, kiddies. Microsoft IS loosing money, just like all the other big corporations. Bill Gates lost around 12 billion dollars this year alone. Granted, most of that loss was a paper loss due to the world-wide economic collapse, but it still nothing to sneeze at.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/16/billionai...gestlosers.html

#9.1 ricknl on 31 Dec 2008 - 14:49

I am afraid you don't really know what you are talking about. Microsoft is not losing money neither is Bill Gates. Bill Gates is still the biggest shareholder in Microsoft and his calculated wealth goes up and down with the stock value of Microsoft. As MSFT's value went down this year like most of other companies Bill Gates calculated wealth also went down.

#10 ZombieFly on 31 Dec 2008 - 16:57

why do people find it surprising that MS is taking advantage of the downturn to clean out the dead wood? they're no different to any other business

#11 Marshalus on 31 Dec 2008 - 18:25

The MSN side of Microsoft needed to be cleaned up a long time ago. Why does Microsoft still even do MSN, why not just dump it and make Live the homepage for everyone?

#12 realmccoy on 31 Dec 2008 - 20:31

We don't need anymore layoffs in the USA

#13 Aq3e on 31 Dec 2008 - 20:40

Bose also is about to lay off 40% as well. Time to get my resume' together.

#14 lylesback2 on 31 Dec 2008 - 21:32

After doing a lot of searching on stocks, I noticed once major companies announce they are cutting workers, their stocks immediately plummet. Microsoft was sitting higher then most major web companies, but I can surely bet come next week, they will all be heading down hill

#15 Albert on 01 Jan 2009 - 04:31

microsoft has become microsoft&fat.

about freaking time they get rid of their excess fat. and believe me, they have a lot of fat that has been hiding in their organization structure for years.

#16 Hawkeye666 on 01 Jan 2009 - 14:12

They should start in the Marketing Department where it seems an endless stream of stupid decisions have been made for over a decade now. That was the case when I worked there in the 90's and obviously is still the case. Second cut all the low to middle management that has been there for years doing nothing and soaking up the once valuable options. I was there for over five years, had over a dozen managers and only three were any good at all.

There are a lot of amazing technologists at MS but they have a very tiny voice in the cacophony of yes-men and idiots that make up so much of the organization.

#17 nunjabusiness on 01 Jan 2009 - 16:27

I think the Zune firmware team is a good start!

#18 RebelSean on 01 Jan 2009 - 19:17

This is a sad day for all divisions of Microsoft, long time friends of mine have been given their notice (Mostly over at MSN). I only hope that by the third quarter of this year things turn around, because if MSN is being cut now I fear that Windows Live will be hit next.

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Microsoft getting ready to lay off 17% of staff?

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