US software giant Microsoft is reportedly planning massive job cuts following its takeover of Nokia.
According to Bloomberg news agency, the job losses will mainly affect the Finnish mobile phone maker.
Under a plan to integrate Nokia’s mobile phone unit, Microsoft was planning its biggest round of job cuts in five years. . Anonymous Microsoft executives told the news wire the cuts could exceed the 5,800 jobs lost in 2009, the biggest in Microsoft’s history.
The new cuts would mainly hit Nokia, but also parts of Microsoft which overlap with the mobile devices maker’s activities, Bloomberg reported.
Earlier this year, Microsoft took over the Finnish handset maker, boosting Microsoft’s total workforce to 127,000 – significantly more employees than are on the payrolls of rivals Apple and Google.
According to Bloomberg, some of the layoffs would be made in marketing departments for businesses such as the global Xbox team, and among software testers, while other job cuts may result from changes to the engineering organization.
Last week, Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella reportedly circulated a memo to employees promising to “flatten the organization and develop leaner business processes,” but he deferred any comment on job cuts.
Nadella said he would address detailed organizational and financial issues for the company’s new financial year, which started on July 1st, when Microsoft reports quarterly results on July 22.
Nadella, a company veteran who became chief executive in February, has promised to reveal more detail on his strategy when he reports Microsoft’s latest quarterly earnings on 22 July. He is only the third person to lead Microsoft in its history and has a low-profile outside the company and remains less well-known than founder Bill Gates, who retains a role as technology adviser to the company.
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