Microsoft to cut jobs 'significantly'

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 15 January 2009, 20:19 IST
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New York: Now it seems that the companies planning to lay off employees are quite afraid of divulging the number of the hapless employees they have decided to send off. After Oracle has disclosed their plan to lay off 'hundreds of' employees, Microsoft has announced that it is considering 'significant' layoffs across various divisions that could happen as early as next week, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Describing the move as 'a rare occurrence for the world's largest software company, the Journal said Microsoft was 'considering layoffs across its various divisions.' "However, plans for the cutbacks are still in flux and Microsoft could end up finding alternative methods of reining in costs," the Journal quoted one unidentified source as saying. The number of potential job cuts is likely to be far less than the 15,000 positions that have been rumored in recent weeks. Though Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer declined last week to say whether the company was planning layoffs, he admitted that the economic slowdown was forcing it to think seriously about cost-cutting moves. "We are finding our right balance. When we find it, I am sure we will communicate that publicly," Ballmer said, adding that deep job cuts were unlikely. According to the report, Microsoft, which had 91,000 employees at the end of June, might announce the job cuts when it reports its financial results on January 22. The company has already said that it could not sustain the headcount growth of the last two fiscal years (which reached as much as 15 percent), owing to the weak economy.