Recession: Microsoft cuts thousands more jobs
by Stevie Smith - May 6 2009, 15:30
...or not, as the case may be. Image: terinea/Flickr.
Following on from a January announcement outlining sweeping job cuts throughout its international workforce, American software company Microsoft Corp. has this week confirmed the loss of thousands more positions across the globe.
With 1,400 jobs culled at the beginning of 2009 as part of a recession-led restructuring effort, Microsoft has said that this week’s additional losses bring the total close to the projected 5,000 it had originally announced back in January (approx. five percent of its employees worldwide).
However, with the current economic climate still biting hard, Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer has intimated that further cuts could yet come into play as the company strives to maintain momentum and shuffle its business to best suit the financial situation.
“As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor the impact of the economic downturn on the company and, if necessary, take further actions on our cost structure including additional job eliminations,” said Ballmer in an e-mail to Microsoft staff.
While the prospect of looming unemployment is something no one at Microsoft is likely looking forward to, the Redmond-based software giant has said severance considerations are included in the terminations and that many of the laid-off workers will be rehired between now and 2010 as the company works to create up to 3,000 new jobs.
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