Microsoft to layoff 5,000 people
Sure, Windows 7 may be getting rave reviews, and Windows Mobile 6.5 and Internet Explorer 8 launches may be coming soon. But Microsoft, like many other companies has been hit hard by the recession. According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the company's second quarter revenue was $900 million below expectations (although still up 2 percent from last year).Ballmer says the company has already taken steps to cut operating expenses, but Microsoft will now eliminate as many as 5,000 jobs in research and development, marketing, sales, finance, and other departments over the next year and a half. Over a thousand job cuts take effect today. Microsoft will actually be creating some new positions, but overall, the plan is to reduce the workforce by 2,000 to 3,000 people.
Microsoft currently employs about 94,000 people.
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ghoti said 11:25AM on 1-22-2009
Aww, poor babies, they only made $4.17 billion in profits (versus $4.71 billion the year before). Cry me a river.
I also read that in addition to cutting jobs, they're cutting travel by 20% and will eliminate merit raises this September. Seems like a pretty big panic for not such a huge change in profits.
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Jon said 1:56PM on 1-22-2009
Instead of cutting 5000 US jobs, why don't they cut the India-based Call Center that is RUINING their already damaged name, and put proper support back in the US? I mean, unless they don't care that they are losing more and more customer confidence due to India's inability to answer anything aside from what's on their screens.
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Donzo said 4:37PM on 1-22-2009
IBM is posting banner profits for 2008 and expecting a good 2009. MS looks worse than IBM wow.
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roger.brunlinger said 10:41PM on 1-26-2009
Half o' my IT buddies have been chiding me for hanging on to XP - telling me to get on the Vista bandwagon. I can't remember the last time Micro$oft had a layoff this big because of "economic reasons". Am I the only one to see the connection between the general publics resistance to embrace this white elephant and the decline in Micro$oft's profits?
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