Clarifying the act, Microsoft said that the call had been made in order to merge some engineering positions while putting several Skype and Yammer roles at stake.
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In a disclosure which indicates that a painstaking consolidation effort is apparently underway at Microsoft, a Financial Times (FT) report has revealed that the company may shut down its Skype offices in London. More than 400 employees will be losing their job owing to the sudden shut down of the United Kingdom office of the firm.
Though little consolation, Microsoft said it was “deeply committed to help those impacted during this process”. Microsoft’s retreat is a big shock for the tech industry in Britain, especially after Brexit. Its London office contained developers who worked on Skype’s range of products and services, particularly so when the company itself was created in London in 2003.
“One of the things that was always a big issue for Microsoft was that big decisions at Skype would usually always be made in Europe, not in Redmond [its US HQ]”.
“I know it’s natural to integrate, but Skype is a shell of the company it once was”, they said.
Microsoft is closing its European headquarters in a concerted consolidation effort, putting almost 400 jobs on ice. “Now, it’s a Redmond, Microsoft-led company rather than an independent Skype”, the person added.
Microsoft cut about 300 additional people globally this past week, the company spokesperson confirmed, with the majority of those cuts affecting those working in the Puget Sound, Wash., area.
This is a drastic turn of events for Skype, as just three years ago Microsoft heralded London as a center for tech innovation with the opening of the brand new headquarters.
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Shaw is among the current and former Skype staff to share their reaction to the news on Twitter. It plans to terminate most of the redundant personnel in a move to unify its global engineering resources.
