Microsoft To Cut 18,000 Jobs Over Next 12 Months

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that bold changes were to be made and it appears that he wasn’t kidding around. Microsoft today announced that it would cut 18,000 jobs within the next 12 months, which means that about 14% of Microsoft’s 125,000 employees could be on the chopping block. Nadella said Microsoft was in need of a “culture change” and this could be the start of the change that he has envisioned for the company. The news announced this morning by a press release is rather shocking as Microsoft has never laid off this many people at one time. During the recession back in 2009, Microsoft cut just over 5,000 positions. Microsoft says about 12,500 of the professional and factory positions will be cut as part of its $7 billion acquisition of Nokia’s handset business, which the company closed in April.

Last week, Nadella sent a memo to employees reinforcing his vision for a “mobile-first, cloud-first” world, focusing on unifying its software and hardware.

“At our core, Microsoft is the productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world. We will reinvent productivity to empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more and achieve more. Microsoft has a unique ability to harmonize the world’s devices, apps, docs, data and social networks in digital work and life experiences so that people are at the center and are empowered to do more and achieve more with what is becoming an increasingly scarce commodity time!” said Nadella.

On July 22, Microsoft will announce earnings results for the past quarter and Nadella is expected to say more about what Microsoft will be doing in FY15 to focus on our core.