Microsoft on Tuesday announced new job cuts that arepart of the 5,000 the company said in January that it expected to eliminate.
The company did not say exactly how many people would be affected ordescribe which groups will lose the positions.
However, in a memo that CEO Steve Ballmer sent to employees and that hasbeen seen by IDG News Service, he said that this round of layoffs nearlycompletes the planned 5,000 total cuts. In January, the company laid off1,400 people, so Tuesday’s cuts could be close to 3,000.
Washington state, where Microsoft is based, requires companies to discloselayoffs of this size, so within a few days the exact number should becomepublic.
People in the U.S. and several countries around the world were affected,Ballmer said.
He also said that more cuts could happen. “We will continue to closelymonitor the impact of the economic downturn on the company and if necessary,take further actions on our cost structure including additional jobeliminations,” he wrote in the memo.
When Microsoft first announced plans to lay off workers by June 2010, underpressure of a weakening economy, it also said that it planned to hire 2,000to 3,000 people during the same time frame. Even after laying off 1,400people earlier this year, Microsoft said that during the first three monthsof this year it lost a total of 800 jobs, indicating the level of hiringthat continued even amid the layoffs.
Worldwide, Microsoft employs over 95,000 people, according to its Web site.
Microsoft clearly continues to struggle in the difficult economy. For thefirst quarter of this year, it reported a decrease in earnings per share of30 per cent compared to last year. Revenue was down six per cent over last yeartoo.