After much, much, much speculation, Microsoft let the cat out of the bag today: due to weak results, Microsoft is going to cut 5000 jobs. Those 5000 jobs will disappear over the course of 18 months, with 1400 jobs being cut immediately. Quarterly results, as well as the cost-cutting measures, were made known in a press release today.
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Member since:2005-10-19
Totally agree,
It's pretty appalling that companies are allowed to do this.
It's like the Commonwealth Bank in Aus not so long ago, made a record $2.6bn and sacked 1500 people. Governments need to regulate this kind of thing.
It's fair enough if companies are strapped and have to let people go, but this kind of thing is ridiculous.
Member since:2005-07-06
If you're redundant you're redundant. Why should a company who no longer needs your services be forced to keep you on because once upon a time they needed you.
Keep in mind when times are good employees can jump around from job to job with no loyalty either in order to maximise their take home. So it seems fairly equitable to me. When you don't need their job anymore you leave, when they don't need your services they give you a severance package and off you go.
Please no tyrannical regulation.
Member since:
2006-09-07
It's $16.63 billion total revenue for the latest quarter. The net profit is $4.17 billion, which gives a still-impressive net profit margin of 25% (down from 29% for the previous quarter).
To give an idea of how Microsoft's net profit margin of 29% compares elsewhere in the computer industry last quarter (figures are from Google):
Dell: 4.8%
Apple: 14.4%
HP: 6.3%
IBM: 11.2%
Even though everyone is feeling the pinch of the global economy, the sky is hardly falling for Microsoft, and a layoff at this point just doesn't seem justified.