While a 3,100-word mission statement published last week by Satya Nadella consisted mostly of amorphous ramblings about the future of Microsoft, it turns out the tech exec may have buried a rather ominous lede.
Microsoft is reportedly eyeing what may be its most massive round of layoffs ever. The announcement, which could arrive as soon as this week, comes as the tech giant seeks to integrate roughly 30,000 new employees on the heels of its Nokia acquisition, Bloomberg reports.
While Nadella did hint at “organization changes” in his letter to employees, cuts “will probably be in engineering, marketing and areas of overlap with Nokia,” sources said. Affected departments could include members of the global Xbox marketing team as well as software testers.
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In its last major round of layoffs, Microsoft cut 5,800 jobs over the course of 2009 at the start of the recession. But this latest round may end up being even bigger, according to Bloomberg.
The company has also undertaken several minor restructurings in more recent years, such as the elimination of hundreds of advertising sales and marketing positions in 2012.
As of June 5, Microsoft counted a total of 127,104 total employees -- 61,313 of whom are based in the United States.
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Geoff Weiss
Geoff Weiss is a former staff writer at Entrepreneur.com.
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