Microsoft will cut 1,400 jobs today, with the intention of cutting an additional 5,000 over the next 18 months. VentureBeat reports that "[t]he cuts are coming in research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and information technology," and "will reduce the company’s annual operating expense run rate by approximately $1.5 billion and reduce fiscal year 2009 capital expenditures by $700 million."
News of the layoffs comes on the same day Microsoft reports its second-quarter results. Although Microsoft showed a 2% overall increase in revenue over Q2 2008, net income declined by 11% against the previous year. Declines were also seen in operating income and diluted earnings per share.
Despite the news, Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer remains hopeful:
"While we are not immune to the effects of the economy, I am confident in the strength of our product portfolio and soundness of our approach. We will continue to manage expenses and invest in long-term opportunities to deliver value to customers and shareholders, and we will emerge an even stronger industry leader than we are today."
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
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