Microsoft To Lay Off 14 Percent Of Its Workforce

Today, Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella wrote a letter to all company employees that indicates the corporation is preparing to lay off 18,000 employees. (The New York Times reports that this makes up about 14 percent of Microsoft's global workforce.) These layoffs will be the biggest and most severe in Microsoft's history.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Hopefully you can find work somewhere else.

[ITPython]

Wonder how many of the XB1 cheerleaders (ie trolls) will suddenly disappear from N4G because of this?

Seriously though, as long as none of these people are the ones MS pays to leave fake positive feedback for the XB1, and fake negative feedback for the PS4, I feel really bad for them and hope they get back on their feet soon. It is tough out there.

[FriedGoat]

I have noticed for the past few months a strange increase in agrees and "well
Saids" in a very short amount of time on certain pro Xb articles. I wonder....

[Fishy Fingers]

Delusional.

[dcbronco]

This whole 14 percent thing is a joke. It makes one of two things clear. Either how stupid most of the press (and gullible the people) are or how corrupted they are. Before Microsoft acquired Nokia, they had over 125,000 employees. That acquisition brought in an additional 30-60,000 Nokia employees bringing Microsoft up to 155-185,000. Cutting 18,000 is not 14%. They actually added employees over the number the reports are using.

So why is everyone reporting 14%? For some it's stupidity. They use other reporters as their source. You could also call that lazy. The other is corruption. Look at Microsoft's stock price yesterday. It was all over the place. If you want to know why, check out Jim Cramer's interview with John Stewart on the Daily Show. Insiders use games like this to cheat those stupid enough to still believe the market is their best chance for a stable retirement. The market doesn't always win for the average Joe. In fact, most lose or break even. It does always win for the insiders. Because their games give them your money.

Microsoft's new CEO is allowing the market forces to manipulate him. No CEO should ever chase stock prices.

[blackout]

Why do we have to disappear. These layoffs are because off an acquisition (Nokia). Microsoft inherited extra man power. If im not mistaken 22,000 more.

[Magicite]

of course you can, its not the end of the world, besides they will have recommendations.

[mrpsychoticstalker]

Most of these people are from the Nokia acquisition. Living in Finland. And this doesn't really impact the Xbox division, aside from the Xbox entertainment which no one really cares about.

Plus we are still getting the Halo series from Steven Spielberg.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2...

[FarEastOrient]

What happened to the Quantum Break TV stuff?

[Tedakin]

Remedy is making that game, not MS. I doubt it will be affected.

[dantesparda]

@mrpsycho

Way to only care about your precious. And not all the people losing their jobs. So much damage control.

[nicksetzer1]

@fareast Nothing, I am sure you will find something else to pretend to be upset about though....

http://n4g.com/news/1551029...

[Rimeskeem]

The people who worked at Xbox entertainment cared about it

[Insomnia_84]

Didn't you say Microsoft would never leave thousands of people with no jobs? Didn't you say they have so much money that they would do anything to keep people working?

http://i.imgur.com/xQdVH9C....

[Why o why]

Thats all I've heard since I joined n4g. Ms's money this, ms's money that. The same money they chose NOT to spend for the majority of last gen on the things that actually mattered and could be built upon. No point bragging about them then dissing sony for being 'broke' or 'going bankrupt' yet they continued to pump out more higher quality games for the whole gen. They didn't adopt the minimalistic approach ms have now become synonymous with.

In regards to the job loses, I'm hoping all affected can sort themselves swiftly.

[thejigisup]

It will impact the xbox division in Finland definitely.

[GreenRanger]

There'll be 14% less cheering for Microsoft at E3 2015.

[FamilyGuy]

Lmmfao, I forgot all about those canned laughs/applauds that only came from MSs own employees

[mark3214uk]

lol have a bubble

[pyramidshead]

Lol'd.

[Perjoss]

hahaha, yeah those cheers are hilarious, everyone expects applause, its only polite if soneone is up on stage trying to impress you that you at least show a little appreciation for the effort. But the cheers are certainly not needed, specially when peoople are cheering when really mundane features are announced.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

How many of these articles do we need?

[dantesparda]

As many as we needed for Sony. After all, fair is fair, right? You know, all the Sony is doomz talk. And did all of the Sony lay offs even add up to anywhere near 18,000 people?

[mcstorm]

There is a difference in Sonys layoffs and Microsoft's. Sony was because it needed to make cuts to survive the cuts Microsoft are making are from the Nokia division because they now have 2 teams in the Windows Phone/Tablet market and Microsoft don't need this and when they bought Nokia Microsoft took on around 14 thousand staff.

Also Microsoft have just had a new CEO with a new vision for Microsoft and he is trying to change the company's image and by doing this some jobs also have to go.

At the end of the day any company letting staff go in my eyes in a sad thing as this is real people out of a job and I don't want to see that for anyone no matter how much I don't like that company.

I hope the people who will lose their jobs over the next 12 months manage to find another one soon after leaving Microsoft.

[Daoshai]

@mcstorm. Not sure why your getting disagrees, only fanboys can't see the difference. Well, ok, I guess we know why your getting disagrees after all.

[dcbronco]

It's a sad comment on gamers when an intelligent comment is only met with disagrees. People wonder why the general population looks at gamers as children. Reading comments on a forum and watching the reaction makes it clear. Not that the general public is any better, but the majority always sets the tone. Though it is the vocal minority that positions the majority.

But anyway, keep it stupid gamers.

[mark3214uk]

differance is sony were honest about there layoffs ms are masking it with a nokia merger,truth is there making layoffs because they are not doing as well as they thought with xbox,they thought they would be milking retail game shops with there drm system,they thought adding kinect for extra $100 was a good idea,they thought they would have big cheque's from the nsa for allowing them to look straight into your living room,they fucked over idies,they have the weaker console that is struggling at the start of its journey,all that leads to job loses and big cuts

[thejigisup]

@mcstorm
Well, they are certainly changing their image

[2cents]

as many as it takes. The hate will never stop for MS or for Sony.

Thanks to the intelligence levels of the majority in the gaming community. This forum alone has spawned some really troubled individuals who have somehow made it their whole existence to spread dis-information. Spamming each and every article with exactly the same bile. With no break for food, toilet, washing, blinking... I would hate to see what some of these people actually look like in real life.

Sasuke, NextLevel etc have some serious medical issues that need to be addressed, It seems to be totally normal behaviour for their ilk to continually spew out nonsense. eg. Sakuke has been a member for 6months but has posted over 5000 comments!!! and I challenge anyone to find anything of any substance in any of those posts.

The monkeys are never going to get of the organ grinder. Its the same old sh1t every day.

I come here for news and discussions about gaming but I don't remember the last time I managed to have an actual exchange of ideas on this forum. Its all too easy to get sucked into the he said she said debacle that oozes over into every single article.

anyways, rant over. Time to read some articles.

[Tito08]

I would recognize Sasuke as being a fanboy, but his comments are not as delusional and ignorant as the infamous Truefan1, which YOU failed to mention.

[2cents]

I did add 'etc.' to the sentence.

There are loads, too many to mention. Those names came to mind only because they were in the forefront of my mind as I had read many comments from them in the last few days.

sorry if I'm offending you, but I posted because they are offending me with their useless posts so I chose to jump in and throw my 2cents into the lions den. Sometimes people need to speak out and sometimes louder than the usual lot when the balance gets skewed. And in my opinion, I felt I needed to say something that provokes thought.
I'm nothing more than 'just another post', I keep things in perspective, but if 'my post' makes even just one person change their behaviour for the better then its worth it.

[skydragoonity]

Some serious stuff happening at MS... Hope all affected can find work as soon as possible.

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

I've been laid off twice in my life and its no joking matter. Good luck to those affected.

[Rhythmattic]

Fkin ipad....

I accidentally hit disagree, where I whole heartily agree.

[stripe814]

not looking good

[Mikefizzled]

Microsoft acquires Nokia mobile for $6 billion and gains 30,000 employees.
Lays off 12,000 of those newly acquired employees due to overlapping staff and change of focus.
Business as normal. Nothing to worry about here.

[n4rc]

Exactly...

Let the trolls try to make it sound sinister..

[Tedakin]

Over 12k from Nokia.

[Godmars290]

How many times do we have to hear about this?

[Aldous_Snow]

Please sack Baghdad Larry...
Please sack Baghdad Larry...
Please sack Baghdad Larry...

[Steptoe]

If only MS listened to their research department. Instead they went with their vision just like they did with Windows 8. Is it any suprise they are not selling as well as they hoped? Arrogant to the end.

[Daoshai]

Some info for you. Microsoft stock price has hit it's highest price since 2000. They reported their highest net income for the quarter ever a few months ago. N4g, ignorant till the end.

[ssjkiet]

Keywords. AS THEY HOPED. Pointless Facts till the end.

[SynestheticRoar]

Damn. I'm really sorry to hear about all those worker's. I hope they land on their feet, and find new jobs soon.

[MeliMel]

Lmao at some of comments. Most of the layoffs are from Nokia aquisition and really has nothing to do with MS being in financial trouble like Sony. They're just cleaning house a little. So to all fanboys, read before commenting.

That being said 14% is alot but then again MS is a Huge company. I just hope the ones affected land on their feet asap.

[stuna1]

The sad fact that you would attach a fanboy innuendo to your statement when losing a job, is losing a job! Plain and simple. An acquisition of another company shouldn't automatically put people in fear of losing their jobs. They didn't ask to be put in such a position to begin with!

And as always the suits sit in their mighty fortresses, while the ones with lesser pedigree suffer.

[Imalwaysright]

A company restructuring itself after being bought by another company with a different vision is nothing new. It sucks for those losing their jobs but is the reality we live in.

[Steptoe]

So why shut down the Xbox Entertainment Studios? They must have known nobody would really care about it. But they went ahead anyway. Waste of time and money.

[snookiegamer]

Shame on those who comment things like 'It's only Staff from Finland' & 'Xbox Division is unaffected, it's mostly Nokia staff'. Prime example...User 'n4rc' (below my comment) states 'Do we worry about every person on the planet, and their Job? NO!'. < Another programmed little person.

The CEO himself speaks as if this is a great time for MS. the same 'Change is good' trickery used by President Obama, to get the Sheeples to vote him in. Yet 18'000 Human Beings are losing their Job. Really, these people have no compassion. They're cold and dead inside. The light that used to illuminate them has disappeared.

It's not like other corporations haven't laid off people before, it's just the seemingly sterile way they've (MS) gone about it. WE'RE entering an age where people are being PROGRAMMED to lack the one thing that makes us HUMAN...

EMPATHY.

[stuna1]

All I can say is Well Said!!! Situation like this remind me of a "Work Horse"! A beast of burden, up until it becomes lame in the hoof, then it's euthanized.

People bring up Sony in comparison, but really is there a comparison!? Sony lost and is losing billions! What's Microsofts excuse? The shift of a percentage point.

[SmielmaN]

Bingo. Layoffs were to boost shares and save payroll. It's all about he shareholders with major corps. It's always crap to hear about ppl losing jobs for no reason other than stock prices.

[n4rc]

Its amazing how selective everyone around here is..

Sony loses staff and excuses fly.. End of their contract, project is finished so they move on etc etc..

Either ms bought out Nokia or they fold.. Those jobs were gone no matter what..

Does it suck? Yes, for them.. But do we suddenly worry about every person on the planet and their job? No

When your job becomes redundant or no longer required, its gone... Its a simple fact of life

[MeliMel]

Well I dont worry about everyones job. But it still sucks to know 18k+ people are gonna be without work soon.

In the grand scheme of things its more than 18k being affected, what about families. Having to start over and so on and so forth.

You know what tho everyone is entitled to feel however they want, so I wont knock you.

Hey off topic a bit, but I didnt know one soul in that Malaysia Airline they shot down yesterday. But ill tell you what, I am one angry human being because that was fucked up. You just dont shoot down civilians. The sad part is that nothing will be done about it..you get it right?

[SmielmaN]

Your pretty heartless eh?

[Slugfest321]

I know this is off topic but anyone who has ps4 and xbox one can they tell me if its worth getting xbox one i have ps4 but thinking of getting box one as swell.

But just to let people know i dont like halo or fable so they wont be selling points for me. :)

[ceedubya9]

Sure, no problem. I think the answer for you would be "maybe." Look at the list of exclusive games that are available or coming to the Xbox One. Unless you are into open world racing like Horizon 2 or games like Sunset Overdrive, you can probably hold off on the Xbox One for now, and wait until games come for it that you are truly interested in. At that point you will have a true reason to buy one and it may even be a bit cheaper, so you'll save money in the long run. The One isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so pick one up when it is the right time for you :).

[Slugfest321]

Thanks and thanks 2 Tito08 the two games so far that are exclusives to xbox im interested in are sunset overdrive and dead rising 3. The main thing is people i used to play 360 with got box one where as i went for ps4 (had ps3 also) multiplats i will play on ps4 so it is only exclusives i will play on box one so your advice was well received i think ill wait for more announcements :)

[Tito08]

I know I'm not getting the XBO, but if you feel like wanting it, go for it, you have the last word at the end of the day, you don't necessarily have to like Halo or Fable, it could be other games, or other things about the system that might attract you, as there are Sony first party games from Sony I don't like despite being used to PlayStation, so don't worry, gaming isn't a religion, wether you want the XBO or not, you decide, get it when you think is the right time to have it.

[Revengeance]

It doesn't matter whether it's from an acquisition or not. They're still cutting 12,000 jobs. I can't believe anyone would defend MS for this.

[Daz]

Lets keep on people we dont need makes sence right