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MICROSOFT HAS ANNOUNCED plans to cut up to 18,000 jobs in its global workforce over the next year as it works to integrate the Nokia business it bought earlier in 2014.
Microsoft agreed a €5.4 billion deal to acquire Nokia back in April.
The company employs around 2,000 people in Ireland, and the cuts announced today are understood to have a limited impact on its Irish workforce. It recently announced the establishment of a new Dublin headquarters and the recruitment of another 200 staff.
A Microsoft statement said the job cuts are part of “a restructuring plan to simplify its operations and align the recently acquired Nokia Devices and Services business with the company’s overall strategy.”
The company’s employee headcount rose from around 99,000 before the Nokia deal to around 127,000 last month; the cuts represent a 14% drop in the company’s workforce.
It also said it anticipates charges of $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion over the next four quarters, which includes $750 million to $800 million for severance and related benefit costs.
The company is not providing a by-country breakdown of where the cuts will be allocated, but in an email to staff, Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said that, of the 18,000 jobs being cut, “our work toward synergies and strategic alignment on Nokia Devices and Services is expected to account for about 12,500 jobs, comprising both professional and factory workers.”
We are moving now to start reducing the first 13,000 positions, and the vast majority of employees whose jobs will be eliminated will be notified over the next six months.
“It’s important to note that while we are eliminating roles in some areas, we are adding roles in certain other strategic areas,” Nadella added.
- Additional reporting from the AP and AFP
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Does that mean the help desk will stop ringing me?
Probably, I’m waiting for the whinge brigade to blame the government for all the job losses……
Windows Vista and Windows 8..need i say more?
You could say something more relevant. Nokia.
Please don’t.
IF it does affect any Irish workforce, let the government know mid September, ya know, when they’re back at work.
Oh and windows 8, something something..
So much for the ‘Knowledge Economy”…
Ah yes, it’s FG/Labour fault a multi national company purchases another company and decides to slim down….. never let the facts stand in the way of a good whinge….
Microsoft is so last Monday..
Microsoft are pure pants.
They bought Nokia for the expertise and IP it has. Now they’re just basically jettisoning the staff that came as part of the deal.
Or maybe making room for the staff of Nokia?
127,000 employees? That’s some wage bill every week. The mind boggles ..
Microsoft has had its day. With their over-complex installation systems, constant failing updates, virus’s and clunkiness. Give me apple over it any day!! Hate them!
They can’t help it if some people are too stupid to use their software.
What does this have to do with Windows? MS have been in the mobile market for a long time. If anyone can get Nokia competing well with Samsung or Apple it’s them
Apple…. Future rulers of Earth if sheep like you do not wake up.
Any computer is capable of breaking if people don’t know how to look after it. Windows inherently isn’t faulty. Its the build of it thats shat out as an OEM version. I bought Windows From Microsoft to run on my a mac side by side. that computer does everything and windows runs perfectly without a peep as does mac os. If you know what your doing most things work and stay working.
Watch this space…everyone will be raving about Microsoft(Nokia) smartphones in circum 12 months
What a shame to see such a large population of soon to be unemployed peoples. While the standard line people trolley out is that big multinational corporations create jobs, which is truthful to the certain extent, the mergers and acquisitions side of big business tends to do the opposite.
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