More layoffs at Microsoft: another 800 jobs cut

The rumors were true: Microsoft confirms more layoffs. A futher 800 employees have been told their jobs are redundant. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wonder who, why, and where.

By Richi Jennings. November 5, 2009.
(MSFT)

Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention laughable comping...
 
 
Bobbie Johnson brings the bad news:

Microsoft is cutting another 800 jobs worldwide as it attempts to cope with falling demand for its products. ... Earlier this year Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said the company would be cutting "up to" 5,000 positions, although [this] takes the company beyond that initial figure.
...
The move comes shortly after the company reported falling profits and revenues in its most recent financial filings. ... Until this year the world's biggest software company ... had never made any large-scale redundancies.

Todd Bishop broke the rumor:

Reorganizations are common inside the company. In the past, people who lost their jobs as part of those changes were often able to find other positions inside the company. This time around, there aren't enough of those open jobs available. While Microsoft has continued to hire in some areas, cushioning the effect of the job cuts, the company isn't expanding at nearly the rate that it has in the past.
...
The layoffs had been rumored for weeks, based in part on reports of widespread reservations of conference rooms on Nov. 4, similar to the way they were reserved before previous layoffs.

Sebastian Rupley fingers netbooks again:

While early reports on adoption of the company’s new Windows 7 operating system are positive, the latest round of cuts may still have to do with the mobile tech-related reasons for staff reductions that the company cited in January. ... According to the company’s 10-Q filing from then: "The decline in OEM revenue reflects an 11 percentage point decrease in the OEM premium mix to 64 percent, primarily driven by growth of licenses related to sales of netbook PCs, as well as changes in the geographic and product mixes."
...
The fact that profit margins are razor thin in the red-hot netbook category has plagued Microsoft all year, and the company’s Windows Mobile strategy is showing signs of profound weakness.

What's going to be Don Dodge's next big thing?

Microsoft announced more layoffs today, and I was one of them. This was a total surprise to me, and management offered no explanation. This is pretty standard procedure, mostly for legal reasons, but none the less left me with a cold feeling...but only for a minute or two.
...
Thanks to all the fine people at Microsoft. You know who you are. There are thousands of talented people there and I enjoyed working with all of them. I’m sure we will see each other again at conferences and industry events. Its a small world…and getting more connected every day. I’ll see you on the web.

Meanwhile, Mini Microsoft is his or her usual self:

With today's 800 Microsoft layoffs, Microsoft Layoff 2009 has reached its final milestone and shipped, exceeded expectations of 5,000 with 5,800 reduced positions. Err... yay?
...
I think it was necessary for Microsoft to have layoffs due to the mismanaged growth and lack of focus and direction our Senior Leadership Team has given us. But it should have been twice as much, done all at once. Now we dither.

So what's your take?
Get involved: leave a comment.
 
 
And finally...

• Digital Photoshop Disaster Of The Year, 2009
  

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him as @richi on Twitter, or richij on FriendFeed, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itblogwatch@richij.com.

 
 
Don't miss out on IT Blogwatch:

• Subscribe to the Computerworld Blogs and IT Blogwatch newsletters
• Catch up with posts from the previous few days