Microsoft set to cut 18,000 jobs

Microsoft is to cut up to 18,000 jobs marking the
deepest cuts in the technology firm’s 39-year
history.
The bulk of the cuts, around 12,500, will be in its
phone unit Nokia, which Microsoft bought in April,
the firm said.
Microsoft pledged to cut $600m (£350.8m) per
year in costs within 18 months of closing the
acquisition.
The cuts are much more severe than the 6,000
initially expected.
The firm employs 127,000 globally, including
3,500 staff in the UK.
Chief executive officer Satya Nadella, who took the
helm in February, wants the firm to shift its focus
away from software to online services, apps and
devices.
“Making these decisions to change are difficult,
but necessary,” Nadella wrote in the
announcement to staff.
The firm said it also planned to have fewer layers
of management “to accelerate the flow of
information and decision making.”
Microsoft said staff affected by the job cuts would
be notified over the next six months.
Last week, Nadella rebranded the firm as “the
productivity and platform company for the mobile-
first and cloud-first world.”
The cuts are aimed at helping Microsoft better
compete with rivals including Google and Apple.
The last significant job cuts at the firm were in
early 2009, when previous chief executive Steve
Ballmer axed 5,800 staff.