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Microsoft Businesses IT Technology

Microsoft To Cut Thousands of Jobs Across Divisions (reuters.com) 31

Microsoft plans to cut thousands of jobs with some roles expected to be eliminated in human resources and engineering divisions, according to media reports on Tuesday. From a report: The expected layoffs would be the latest in the U.S. technology sector, where companies including Amazon.com and Meta have announced retrenchment exercises in response to slowing demand and a worsening global economic outlook. Microsoft's move could indicate that the tech sector may continue to shed jobs.

"From a big picture perspective, another pending round of layoffs at Microsoft suggests the environment is not improving, and likely continues to worsen," Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said. U.K broadcaster Sky News reported, citing sources, that Microsoft plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, or about 11,000 roles.

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Microsoft To Cut Thousands of Jobs Across Divisions

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  • by zkiwi34 ( 974563 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2023 @04:30PM (#63217712)
    Or is it that companies just donâ(TM)t believe such as the Fed and other presumed experts.
    • by dasunt ( 249686 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2023 @04:47PM (#63217766)

      Or is it that companies just don't believe such as the Fed and other presumed experts.

      It seems to me that planning for a coming recession is too long-term thinking for most public companies.

      Maximizing profits for next quarter seems more like what the C-suite plans for.

    • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2023 @05:00PM (#63217824)
      it's a big club, but you ain't in it [oxfam.org]

      These layoffs are designed to weaken employee bargaining power. Employers are taking a short term hit to productivity & profit from lost employees in exchange for long term reduction in wages paid.

      Wish I could get my fellow IT workers to think that far ahead, but they're still convinced it's better to buy a PS5 with Union dues than pocked the 11.2% wage hike [epi.org]

      For you math whizzes you'd need to take home about $5k/yr for that to be a good trade.
      • Groucho Marx: I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.

      • We don't want union communism in technology fields. Professional associations are a good idea though, like what doctors and lawyers do. But fuck off with the Teamsters/Mafia type union shit.

        • Those are your only options. The worker shortage is over. It was a short-lived shortage because the rank and file thought computers were more complicated than they actually are. A flood of cheap laborers will drive your wages down lower and lower. If you're a baby boomer you might retire or die before the worst of it hits. If your gen xmz better get used to the taste of cat food in your old age.

          And you don't know fuck all about the history of unions. The Union's got buddy buddy with the mafia because th
    • by DesScorp ( 410532 ) on Wednesday January 18, 2023 @11:32AM (#63219884) Journal

      Or is it that companies just donâ(TM)t believe such as the Fed and other presumed experts.

      Most Americans have reached a Soviet-like stage when it comes to the economy: we know that authorities are telling us how great things are while we look around at our checking accounts and pantries and store shelves and see differently. We know we're being gaslighted, and simply don't believe the authorities anymore. The very fact that the government doesn't count food and fuel costs in inflation calculations... a huge portion of common people's expenses... lets us know just how important we are in the government's eyes. Watch a mother's face when you tell her the economy is going great, and she's spending 50% more on the same groceries than she was just 18 months ago. Tell her there's no inflation when she's paying four to five times what she used to pay for a carton of eggs.

      "Yeah, those things that you people literally can't live without... pffffft, unimportant. Things are fine".

  • by Felix Baum ( 6314928 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2023 @04:37PM (#63217738)
    Amid this dynamic environment, we delivered record results in fiscal year 2022: We reported $198 billion in revenue and $83 billion in operating income. And the Microsoft Cloud surpassed $100 billion in annualized revenue for the first time.
    • Productivity is key. Past is not indicative of future. If companies no longer can utilize effectively staff they will cut. This begs the question on permanent employment status and sharing near term profits. Employees accept modest salaries and benefits for longevity vs say a consultant. At least MS staff have a good brand and presumably skills to bring elsewhere. Now other companies will follow like during COVID will be able to cherry pick good talent at affordable rates. Sheâ(TM)s complacent ones.
  • by know-nothing cunt ( 6546228 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2023 @04:39PM (#63217744)

    Fewer bugs fixed, but perhaps fewer introduced as well.

  • Hire someone who can fix the Old Windows Features.

    NTFS long filepath support in Explorer would be nice. After 20 years.
    • Oh, and maybe they could get around to actually tell you which fucking file is locking the folder. You know, another 20+ year oversight.

  • by Turkinolith ( 7180598 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2023 @05:30PM (#63217942)
    Because when I saw everyone and their mother hiring back in 2020, I knew the first thing a CEO is going to do when times get tough is toss out people.
  • by frank_adrian314159 ( 469671 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2023 @06:07PM (#63218050) Homepage

    The more people that are laid off, the sooner the Fed will see a decrease in wage raises and stop raising rates so the stock prices will stop cratering. The savings from laying off a few people? Minimal. The results of the stock prices going up? Priceless. Follow the money.

  • Fix Bugs (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 )

    Why doesn't MS put them to work fixing all the damned bugs and UI inconsistencies in MS products? There is pleeenty of such work to do. It couldn't possibly be because they already wiped out the competition via bundling deals and hit-and-run subsidizing.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    In 2021 Microsoft bought 15 companies. In 2022 they only bought 4, but their attempt to buy Activision is quite a doozy. Not even a full month into 2023 and they've bought a company already.

    When a company gets so big, there should just be a rule that they can't buy anyone anymore. Think how many people lost their jobs because Microsoft bought out their company. They become redundancies that Microsoft doesn't need. Capitalism doesn't work if we just allow unrestrained consolidation.

  • Through the coming acquisition of Open AI.
    • That would be stupid - chatGPT is not ready to replace people and MS doesn't yet have the AI marketshare they want.

Some people manage by the book, even though they don't know who wrote the book or even what book.

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