Microsoft lays off 3,000 employees

[OhioChick]

Source: Computer World

It's almost done with 5,000 headcount cut announced in January

May 5, 2009 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. today laid off 3,000 workers, the second wave of a major reduction the company announced in January. And in a memo to employees, CEO Steve Ballmer said more cuts are possible.

"As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor the impact of the economic downturn on the company and if necessary, take further actions on our cost structure, including additional job eliminations," Ballmer wrote in an e-mail confirmed by a Microsoft spokeswoman.

"As part of the plan we announced in January to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, today we are eliminating additional positions across several areas of the company," said the spokeswoman. "While job eliminations are always difficult, we are taking these necessary actions in response to the global economic downturn."

Microsoft said in January that it would eliminate 5,000 positions, more than 5% of the 96,000 full-time workers it had at the time. It laid off 1,400 of those employees at the time, most of them in the Seattle area where it is headquartered.



Read more: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9132556

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Funny.....Micro$oft still has ads for H-1B's here:
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Jobs-Full/microsoft-W/Seattle,%20WA-L/T/CN/CI/1.htm

[Demeter]

1. Et Tu, Brutus?

About 7 weeks after the Ides of March, too.

[Deja Q]

2. Companies should cut lots of inefficiencies...

Start with putting the ax to Microsoft's bloaty, hamfisted products and pathetic 'support'.

[Turbineguy]

34. I've suggested

they reduce their phone support wait times to less time than it takes to install Linux.

[ihavenobias]

3. Sigh.

It seems to be never ending.

[Azlady]

4. just sick... just sick... n/t

[dflprincess]

5. Any word on how many of those laid off were H-1B visa holders? (eom)

[ChromeFoundry]

8. I got a good guess!

Z-E-R-O

[OhioChick]

10. I have a friend that worked for them....

His job got cut with the first round of layoffs. At that point, he said that no H-1B's were let go...only U.S. workers.

[dflprincess]

20. Why am I not surprised to hear that?

Part 2 of the question is now, how many H-1B visa holders will Microsoft hire this year?

[TommyO]

24. Heaven forbid MicroScrooge keep U.S. citizens employed

Oh, that's right, if H-1B worker gets laid off, MS would have to pay for return trip home for them and their dependents. CAn't have that.

[cascadiance]

6. Damn, now we'll have folks from Seattle coming down to grab jobs here in Portland too...

Just got laid off here last week.

The state here already is second to Michigan in unemployment at 12%...

[ChromeFoundry]

7. If Microsoft needs to cut out some fat....

They should have started with Ballmer's fat ass.

[OhioChick]

12. He makes me sick......

DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
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DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
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DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS

:puke:

[Deja Q]

13. "Give it up!!!!" (grunting) "For meeeeeeee!" (panting)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4860483760049380308

Ballmer is the president of MS now and is responsible for the actions of those under him. Didn't leadership like start at the top back in a time and age a long time ago? Or are ethics passe?

[OhioChick]

14. Steve Ballmer Egged in Hungary!

http://gizmodo.com/391736/steve-ballmer-egged-in-hungary

[Dogmudgeon]

28. Now THAT is "Hungarian Notation"

--d!

[primavera]

18. Now there's an idea!

I was just thinking that, if Bill Gates were to cut his annual pay to something reasonable, Microsoft could probably afford to retain those 3,000 employers, give them all raises, and probably hire another few thousand to boot.

[MilesColtrane]

29. Looks like he should be breaking into a Frankensteinian version of "Puttin' On the Ritz".

[Baby Snooks]

9. Microsoft is in the import/export business...

The positions it can't import, it will export. It's in the import/export business. And probably has a tax write-off for it.

The bulk of the layoffs are in Seattle. Says it all, doesn't it?

[Sanity Claws]

11. Microsoft had an established pattern of using temps

These were layoffs of the regular employees. If Microsoft had already stopped using temps, then the downsizing is considerably larger than these numbers show.

[dpbrown]

15. It's not immigrants' fault that Microsoft laid off workers

I'm glad there are opportunities for skilled workers to come to this country.

[OhioChick]

17. The fault lies with greedy-ass U.S. Corporations. n/t

[ChromeFoundry]

19. And I'm glad jelly tastes good...

Um...what the hell are you talking about?

Did I miss the post where someone blamed immigrants?

[Nihil]

33. That was fun ...

> Did I miss the post where someone blamed immigrants?

Not really, it was the post *below* yours (i.e., #21 vs your #19)
that came in a little *later* than you did ... reading the thread
gave a brief deja vu type of glitch in continuity!

Nice trick! :hi:

[Baby Snooks]

21. Even if they displace skilled American workers?

"I'm glad there are opportunities for skilled workers to come to this country."
___________________________________________________________________

Even if they displace skilled American workers who were laid off in order to provide that opportunity?

[liberalhistorian]

27. Not when millions of skilled

Americans are laid off and desperate for work. The jobs need to go to them FIRST. PERIOD.

[Hannah Bell]

32. no, it's not the immigrant's fault. it's microsoft's fault for playing one group of workers against

another to drive everyone's wages down.

and ours for allowing them to do it.

[BBG]

16. Commutes have been easier lately...

The last month or so has been noticeable for an easier commuting on the mainline between Seattle and Redmond (MS HQ). I thought it the general downturn in the economy but the other leg of my commute is about the same.

[CatholicEdHead]

22. Not looking too promising for Microsoft

Vista is a Dud, Windows 7 will be Vista SP3 with an XP emulator/virtual machine (business/ultimate editions), Windows 7 hardware requirements are slightly higher than Vistas, and almost double if want to VM XP.

Even the sales/training staff in the Minneapolis area are more bummed than usual.

[ChromeFoundry]

25. Wouldn't Linux with XP running in a VM give you even more?!?!

...rhetorical question, I know!

[excess_3]

23. welcome news, I despise M. for pushing its worthless upgrades

(really downgrades) on me.

[w4rma]

26. They weren't laid off. They are being replaced by visa workers who will write horrible code. (nt)

[Amonester]

30. No change there (about horrible code).

Writing horrible code (or buying horrible code) has always been M$ trademark...

[pinniped]

31. Don't these clowns have like 20B in cash reserves?

?