Windows 10, the latest installment in the massively successful line of Windows operating systems is set to be released on July 29, with Microsoft looking to create its own self-sustaining Windows ecosystem to rival other giants like Apple and Google.
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SEATTLE – Microsoft said Wednesday it would eliminate up to 7,800 jobs, more than 6 percent of its workforce, in a major overhaul of its struggling smartphone business.
“I want to discuss our plans to focus our talent and investments in areas where we have differentiation and potential for growth”, wrote CEO Satya Nadella in a company note.
Nadella went on to say they would run a more focused phone portfolio for the time being while “retaining capability for long-term reinvention in mobility”. Such ambitions haven’t worked so far, with Windows Phone unable to gain meaningful traction against iOS and Android.
Microsoft said it will also write down about US$7.6 billion related to its Nokia business.
Microsoft now has about 118,000 employees worldwide.
Ballmer’s last executive decision as CEO of Microsoft was to acquire Nokia’s handset division, which cost Microsoft $7.2 billion.
Nokia pioneered the GSM mobile phone standard and used to dominate the mobile device market in Europe and much of the world until 2007, when Apple introduced the first iPhone.
Nadella made it clear that the company is not completely abandoning its smartphone efforts. The mobile sector will bear the brunt of the layoffs that comes a year after 18,000 jobs were cut due to a restructuring.
Microsoft announced that it will layoff 7,800 employees as it looks to expand the reach of the Bing search engine. Yet because consumers have shifted more of their time to mobile, it is imperative for Microsoft to remain in the market through a successful Windows 10 launch, said Daniel Ives, analyst at FBR Capital Markets.
“Microsoft Corp. today announced plans to restructure the company’s phone hardware business to better focus and align resources, ” the Washington-based company said in a statement.
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A Microsoft spokesman said the cuts were all about focusing the company on core businesses, which is why it just sold some of its mapping business and ad sales business to AOL.
