Microsoft's layoffs conclude early, over 5,000 let go
by Ben Gilbert 
{ Nov 4th 2009 at 3:19PM }
Unfortunately, as with any business in a down economy, the statement also notes that "continuing to manage our businesses closely ... can mean additional headcount adjustments." Considering a company representative already told TechFlash that more than the announced 5,000 number had been let go over the last 10 months (though no specifics were detailed), we're wondering just how many more people will be affected by "headcount adjustments." We contacted Microsoft for more information, but were given the same statement that PaidContent received. It's been reprinted in full after the break.
"Earlier this year, we announced that in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency and prioritize our focus areas, we would eliminate approximately 5,000 positions by June 2010. Today, we are eliminating around 800 positions spread across multiple businesses and locations and have completed our reduction plan sooner than we had anticipated 11 months ago. At the same time, we continue to hire in priority areas, but also understand that continuing to manage our businesses closely, as we always do, can mean additional headcount adjustments."
-Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ulquiorra Cifer @ Nov 4th 2009 3:23PM
That means more money so they can keep on giving me that great xbox experience
Look At This Suit @ Nov 4th 2009 3:39PM
Shut up. Seriously. Shut the fuck up. People lost their jobs. Good people, real people, lost their jobs. Nobody cares about your fanboy bullshit.
I recommend that you fucking leave this website and the comments section forever.
Ulquiorra Cifer @ Nov 4th 2009 3:44PM
Business is business.
twocows360 @ Nov 4th 2009 3:45PM
I agree. These are people who are out of work, people who have potentially had their lives ruined. Just give it a rest.
BigD145 @ Nov 4th 2009 3:49PM
Microsoft could have afforded to keep all of those people on.
Balloonfighter99 @ Nov 4th 2009 3:55PM
relax guy, Microsoft didn't throw those people in the furnace , they were laid off. It happens everyday. Chances are slim these days that you will hold the same job your whole working life. IMO layoffs show you exactly how much your employer actually cherishes your services. If you get laid off take that as an opportunity to find a job that likes you back.
Balloonfighter99 @ Nov 4th 2009 4:08PM
That maybe came across a little strong. What I mean is, I personally would not want to work for a huge corporation like Microsoft. You have to know you are expendable there unless you are super important.
Captain Planet [Planeteer | Power of Captain Planet] @ Nov 4th 2009 4:13PM
C'mon guys. If you work in the tech industry, you go in knowing your job isn't secure/safe. I would imagine a lot of these employees were contract employees as is the norm when you work for companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Oracle, Cisco, etc. While it's unfortunate that these people are out of a job, this is business as usual. I do hope that these people find work much sooner than later.
Duke @ Nov 4th 2009 4:20PM
I find it strange that people with no inside knowledge of a company besides what they feel can comment on how they have plenty of money to keep employees or do anything else. Businesses have to let people go, make adjustments, hire in other sectors, etc as the markets dictate and as they respond to economic changes. It's idiotic to just assume that they can go in a status quo straight line forever just because you think they have lots of money. The investors get pissed at numbers not looking good and they can be ruined quite quick. The world is more complex than a 2 +2 math question.
Jason Statham (Has a ps3 now) @ Nov 4th 2009 7:15PM
"What I mean is, I personally would not want to work for a huge corporation like Microsoft. You have to know you are expendable there unless you are super important."
I'm sorry but what? What world do you live in where you can work and not be considered expendable?
Because I would seriously love to live in your world.
Dreaded Fear @ Nov 4th 2009 3:24PM
People losing jobs like this always sucks. I was lucky enough to survive the second wave of layoffs at my company, but it is a really unsettling atmosphere going into work when many of your former colleagues are no longer there.
Platinum_Skeet @ Nov 4th 2009 4:28PM
Tell me about it. Glad because you have the job but stressed because you don't know how much longer.
ScottG13 @ Nov 4th 2009 3:27PM
Its interesting that the Home & Entertainment Devices division was featured prominently given its recent rise to profitability. Maybe their is a connection?
In most software companies, compensation is the largest cost on the balance sheet.
Marco le Polo @ Nov 4th 2009 3:28PM
That's a lot of brains.
Uncontrol @ Nov 4th 2009 3:32PM
"Headcount adjustments" is such an evil way to say that.
CtrlBurn @ Nov 4th 2009 3:59PM
Just like when your company talks about people being "impacted" instead of just saying they'll be laid off. They say it as though only the people who lose their jobs will be impacted, but that's nowhere near the truth.
AerialAngel @ Nov 4th 2009 3:33PM
I hate microsoft. But that amount of people being layed off is saddening. No more work = No more money.
Xizer @ Nov 4th 2009 3:49PM
Isn't capitalism grand?
BigD145 @ Nov 4th 2009 3:50PM
Corporatism, not capitalism.
Sarge @ Nov 4th 2009 3:59PM
You know, they DO have to make money. Tell the government to lower taxes, and maybe these poor folks wouldn't get let go. Businesses everywhere are tightening their belts to keep their margins, and unfortunately, unemployment is the price we pay.
I've already seen this happen with my brother and his first job. He got let go, and not for performance-related issues, they just didn't have the money to keep him on. It's a tough environment for business out there right now, even for the megacorps.
That Burning Sensation @ Nov 4th 2009 4:05PM
bigd145, capitalism doesn't become 'corporatism', when you don't like it. Besides, the USA is not pure capitolism. We have regulations that say you can't use children as labor or make companies provide safe workplaces. That sir is Socialism, you've just not been educated enough to appreciate or notice it.
Sarge @ Nov 5th 2009 10:44AM
The examples you give are certainly NOT socialism. I will agree, however, that we are not a purely capitalistic society, nor should we be. The government's job is oversight, to make sure no egregious violation of others' rights occur, usually involving corruption on some level. Beyond that, they should keep their grubby hands out of the economy.
That Burning Sensation @ Nov 4th 2009 4:12PM
You think that the current economic situation is due to taxes? Then you have no idea what you are even posting. The economy was already in resession in 2001, the banks had made bad investments (thanks to deregulation) and gave credit to business and individuals who could not afford it. Those loans were bundled and sold throughout the world and when those billions of dollars of dept bundles loss value (because people didn't pay) they became worthless.
The banks had oversaturated the market with credit when there was no actual monetary strength or even a growth in GDP. That gave the illusion the recession was over... and well here we are. The government isn't responsible... everyone is. The deregulation of banks and the underfunding of regulatory enities led to this. If the country would have dealt with the recession back in 2001 we would have gotten out of it by now.
Anyway, my point is you're wrong. Stop pretending to understand things beyond your grasp.
EricGold @ Nov 4th 2009 8:18PM
"underfunding of regulatory entities"
actually regulatory budget increased by 65% under Bush
"The government isn't responsible"
"banks had over-saturated the market with credit" ..
...Why? is it because the Feds kept interest rates artificially low making credit more readily then what was suppose to be....and bush along with his predecessors forced Fannie Mae to have close to %50 of their records to consist of high-risk loans...hell Fannie Mae itself is a govt mortgage backed institution (funny how that little fact isn't talked about too much when liberals blame the free maket for something the govt created)
....the first major deregulation took place under Clinton with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act which separated commercial and investment banks
so you are half right, everyone is to blame....but the govt takes the lion-share of the blame
"We have regulations that say you can't use children as labor or make companies provide safe workplaces"
sorry that isn't socialism....socialism is when the collective control the means of production and the rewards are distributed among everyone equally... (so if i work harder then the other guy should my reward still be equal to his? or greater? and who decides whats fair and equal? by vote? you want your neighbor to vote on your paycheck so they thinks its fair and equal to him?...but that is for a different blog and time)....so how the hell did you attach work safety laws with socialism.......well just don't though around "uneducated" yourself and we'll call it even.
"China goes to Australia, Japan, and Eastern Europe for business"
yeah that has nothing to do with the fact that we have the second highest corporate tax on the planet....people love to do business with nations that going to tax them to death
"They have better educated workers"...what are you basing this on? ...ok....I would rather say whose fault that other nations have a better educated workforce (proof?)....who are you trying to blame?.....and please do not tell me its because they have "free collage" stuff because that is funded through taxing them at nearly half if not more of their paychecks so its not really all that "free"....you don't have to go to a 40k a year university for a good education, you could get the same if not better at you local and city collages and pay fraction of the cost, so please that whole "education is more expensive" is a scapegoat for people being to prideful or ignorant for and don't want to go to a lesser known school
"Lowering taxes won't change a damn thing" ....yeah because allowing people to keep more of what they earn so that they could save, invest, and spend won't help the economy at all...that and history has shown that it does "change a damn thing"
"Anyway, my point is you're wrong. Stop pretending to understand things beyond your grasp"
Yeah, you probably should do the same
(sorry joystiq readers and staff, this is a game blog for fuck sake, why the hell did i just go on a political rant?..anyway....GOD of WAR 3..
shit I should downvote myself)
That Burning Sensation @ Nov 4th 2009 4:26PM
Sarge, here is a good anology. If tell the bank that you don't have any money, would it help if they said, "ok instead of charging you 300 dollars a month we'll charge 100 dollars." Would that mean anything to you? No, subtracting taxes from nothing leaves you with nothing. Our country produces squat. All those "American" trucks conservatives love, well those are built in Mexico and Canada and the CEO's spend the money buying ITALIAN cars and rugs.
The problem isn't taxes its our countries lack of GDP. If you outsource everything and your colleges spend more time sticking you in Literature classes when you are a Science major you have a shortage of workers. China goes to Australia, Japan, and Eastern Europe for buiness. They have better educated workers and guess what? They don't have to pay their employee..... (drum roll please!) healthcare!
Lowering taxes won't change a damn thing.
Sarge @ Nov 5th 2009 10:49AM
Hrm... I wonder why the businesses are outsourcing everything? Could it possibly be that the tax burden that we've placed on them has forced them to look outside the country to meet their bottom line?
I actually agree that we're not producing anything. But you make it sound like onerous government regulation and taxes have not led to the situation which we now have. The idea that we're importing food, oil, and dang near everything else without a true industrial base of our own anymore is disturbing. And given that we're supposedly becoming more "managerial", it's a bad sign that we're so far behind educationally as well.
We've got some serious stuff to work out.
mariokarter @ Nov 4th 2009 4:28PM
TheiTUKourJUUB!! Durrrrka durrr!
Snap Count @ Nov 4th 2009 5:58PM
Don't know what you said, but I'm on board
That Burning Sensation @ Nov 4th 2009 4:28PM
... well it would placate the simple minded.
ChuckJ @ Nov 4th 2009 5:01PM
Good thing Obama, Pelosi, and Reid shoved through that Pork..Stimulus Bill that was suppose to create jobs......oh wait......
That pork filled piece of trash not only didnt create jobs, it didnt save many either.
Enosoma @ Nov 4th 2009 5:52PM
...Flattening World... Reticulating Splines... Adjusting Headcount...
Megapixel @ Nov 6th 2009 10:36PM
Microsoft: "Alright guys, great job on Windows 7 we've been getting such amazing feedback on the improvements we've made since Vista."
(Employees clap)
Microsoft: "Yeah, well, there's some bad news as well..."
Jack @ Nov 5th 2009 4:44PM
nothing like companies making billions in profit using the economy as an excuse for layoffs