Microsoft confirms more marketing and advertising layoffs

Microsoft has confirmed it has laid off a number of its team members in its advertising and marketing divisions, although it is not clear how many people have been affected.

Microsoft is making some more job cuts in its advertising and marketing areas this week. The company confirmed on Wednesday that it has made the decision to lay off workers in both divisions, but would not say how many people have been affected.

In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft said, "I can confirm that there were job eliminations today at Microsoft. I can assure you we're thinking about the exciting new opportunities that Windows 8, Xbox and Skype present for our advertising and marketing partners."

Microsoft has a central marketing business, along with ad sales and marketing areas in other divisions of the company such as Windows, Xbox, Bing, and Office.

These new layoffs come just a few months after Microsoft made similar job cuts in its marketing divisions earlier this year. That round of layoffs eliminated 200 jobs at the company. In May, just before E3 2012, Microsoft announced it was shutting down its Inside Xbox video marketing and promotions team.

In early July, Microsoft announced it would take a one time non-cash charge of $6.2 billion to write down the cost of acquiring aQuantive. The Internet advertising was bought by Microsoft for $6.3 billion in cash five years ago.

Source: Wall Street Journal