Microsoft on Tuesday notified more than 3,000 workers that it was eliminating their jobs.
The software maker said in January that it would cut up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months. It made 1,400 cuts at the time. With the second wave of notifications on Tuesday, Microsoft has cut nearly all 5,000 jobs already.
Source: CNet News
More jobs could be cut at Microsoft Corp., according to a prominent analyst who covers the company.
Sid Parakh of McAdams Wright Ragen brokerage in Seattle said Monday in a note to investors that “over the last week, we have heard from multiple sources that Microsoft may engage in additional restructuring activities in the near-to-mid term.”
Indian outsourcers, along with Microsoft and Google, again lead the list of companies bringing foreign workers to the U.S. on the H-1B visa program.
According to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS), Four India-based companies topped the list:
Infosys Technologies (INFY, India): 4,559 H-1B visas approved in 2008, 4,559 in 2007
Wipro (WIT, India): 2,678 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 2,567 in 2007
Satyam (SAY, India): 1,917 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 1,396 in 2007
Tata (TCS.BO, India): 1,539 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 797 in 2007
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT): 1,018 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 959 in 2007
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG): 248 H-1B visas approved in 2008
Lehman Brothers: 130 H-1B visas approved in 2008
In fiscal year 2007, six of the top 10 visa recipients were based in India; two others among the top 10, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) and UST Global, are headquartered in the U.S. but have most of their operations in India, according to BusinessWeek
USCIS will begin taking H-1B applications for the next fiscal year on April 1 and will distribute the new visas on Oct. 1.
Source: U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS)
According to AP, CNBC: “Microsoft Corp. is slashing overtime, hours and pay for U.S. temporary workers as part of an overall push to curb expenses during the recession.
Microsoft will cut what it pays the staffing agencies by 10 percent for current projects and won’t raise the rate it pays for temporary workers who return after a mandatory annual 100-day break. The company also plans to reduce overtime and the total number of hours clocked by temporary workers.”
~News submitted by upthecreek
According to AP: “A few weeks after launching the first wide-scale layoffs in its history, Microsoft Corp. admits it screwed up a key part of the plan.
First Microsoft realized that an administrative glitch caused it to pay more severance than intended to some laid-off employees. The company’s response: It asked the ex-workers for the money back.
But when one of Microsoft’s letters seeking repayment surfaced on the Web on Saturday, the situation turned embarrassing. On Monday, the company reversed course and said the laid-off workers could keep the extra payouts.”
Microsoft is asking some of the workers it laid off in late January to pay back money they were given in excess of their severance packages. The Redmond-based company is blaming an accounting error and expects repayments within two weeks.
After making 1400 staff redundant, Microsoft reportedly overpaid some of those former employees and underpaid others at the same time. Those who were overpaid were reportedly sent letters requesting for a refund.
Source: PC World
According to the Washington State WARN filings, Microsoft is going to lay off 872 employees at Redmond starting March 23rd.
The company earlier announced cutting 5000 jobs within 18 month from January 2009.
Even as Microsoft lays off up to 5,000 employees from some positions over the next 18 months, it says it plans to hire an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people in others. Although it needs to cut back on expenses overall, the company says it will keep hiring to support its business strategy in key areas.
Microsoft will “continue to hire in most of the areas it has been investing in, areas such as online services, search and cloud computing, to name a few,” a company representative said in a statement this week.
Source: MSNBC
In wake of impending layoffs, Microsoft has released a preliminary response to a U.S. Senator who wants the software giant to cut non-citizens first.
Microsoft’s answer states that it will indeed layoff a significant number of H-1B temporary work visa holders but that their visiting worker status will not be the primary criterion when it comes to deciding who will stay and who will go.
Microsoft officials said they will respond to Senator Grassley’s request for a direct response. However, while the company’s initial response is polite, it doesn’t say it will meet Grassley’s request.
Source: internetnews.com
Redmond, Washington-based ACES Studio, the Microsoft-owned internal group behind the venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator series, has been heavily affected by Microsoft’s ongoing job cuts.
A large portion of the dev house’s staff has been let go – with multiple reports indicating that the entire Flight Simulator team has been axed.
Update: Microsoft has confirmed the closure of ACES Studio. Former ACES developer Phil Taylor claims in a blog post that six employees were retained to fulfill contractual duties, and Flight Simulator may continue to exist as a franchise in some other form.
Source: Gamasutra
Software maker Microsoft Corp. announced Thursday it will cut up to 5,000 jobs in the next year and a half, or 5.5% of its global workforce, citing further deterioration of global economic conditions.
Microsoft will slash 1,400 positions immediately, with the rest of the cuts coming by June 2010. The company also said it will freeze employees’ pay in 2009.
Source: CNNMoney
According to Reuters: “Microsoft Corp is expected to post a quarterly profit that misses its own target and announce thousands of job cuts this week as the global economic slump hurts even the technology industry’s biggest players.”
“Checks indicate that Microsoft is likely to engage in headcount reductions to the tune of 6,000 to 8,000 employees or 6 percent to 8 percent of its 95,000 workforce, ” said McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Sid Parakh. Other analysts suggest the cost reductions may occur in the next few weeks and could also include more targeted cutbacks and attrition, rather than the big number of layoffs that some have speculated.
It was reported earlier that today is the day when layoffs at Microsoft are to begin.
~LayoffBl0g.com: Please share your story if you or someone you know was laid off at Microsoft.~
Update 1 (1-15-2009): Microsoft Corp is considering significant layoffs across its various divisions, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on layoff rumors, according to Reuters
Update (1-21-2009): Microsoft expected to cut jobs as profit weakens
Update 2 (1-22-2009): Microsoft slashes up to 5,000 jobs
Update 3 (1-23-2009): Microsoft has shutdown the ACES game studio (Microsoft Flight Simulator) and axed the entire staff
Update 4 (1-25-2009): US senator asks Microsoft about job cuts, H1B visas
Update 5 (1-28-2009): Microsoft to layoff some H1B visa holders
Update 6 (2-3-2009): Microsoft hiring continues despite layoffs
According to Yahoo News, India: “The world’s top software firm Microsoft has been asked to cut its workforce by 10%, or about 9,100 employees, to tell the market that profits are more important than revenue growth in difficult times.”
“Earlier in October, Microsoft had put in place a hiring freeze on some of its divisions, such as entertainment and devices businesses that make products like X-Box and Zune.”
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