Microsoft layoffs jan 15

That doesn't mean layoffs won't come soon. Microsoft executives were particularly chatty with the press in the days surrounding CEO Steve Ballmer's CES keynote, and when asked about possible job cuts company reps didn't move to deny the rumors.

So when might cuts come? Although look to the Entertainment and Devices Division to outperform with its Xbox. The WSJ had its own report on Wednesday claiming cuts might come " as early as next week. Rumors: Microsoft Layoffs Coming Jan. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. So if that is true, I'm skeptical that MSFT will announce anything that even remotely sounds like layoffs.

Can you imagine the lawsuits if people are ushered out one door with a pink slip while fresh college grads walk in the other door? Instead we'll see tightening of performance standards and aggressive managing-out of the low performers. The last thing anyone is going to call it is "layoffs" January 15th : so do I think anything is going to happen January 15th?

Well, it is after CES we certainly don't want any bad news before that - though look carefully at the groups there and not there and before quarterly results no bad surprises delivered with results - check. But after the rather alarming attention the previous rumor-driven post got, even if something was going to happen January 15th I'd completely expect that's off the table now.

Gossip Grrrls : did I hear any solid facts during all the snow parties I slushed around at during the Christmas holidays? Just still a bunch of second hand rumors, probably filtered through people's own agendas and likes and dislikes. Stuff like:. That last point is interesting around labor laws that I don't begin to know anything about, laws like when a layoff comes that the H1B hires are supposed to be the first to be let go and the Working Adjustment and Retraining Act one commenter brought up.

If this is a stealth layoff due to a lot of RIF'ing and those people leave because there are no matching open positions, does Microsoft have legal cover against this being an honest to goodness "layoff? I think a requirement like having to shed all the H1B hires absolutely nullifies Microsoft doing a classic layoff.

We just wouldn't let go of those people. Mini - the entire premise of your blog is that MSFT needs to reduce in size, be more efficient, be more cost-effective. While the reason is not the ideal one forced upon MSFT by outside economy, rather than developed as part of smart strategy , the end result will be the same.

If MSFT is a capable company at its core at all, it will survive, evolve and thrive. If there truly is a round of layoffs, and MSFT ends up becoming the leaner, meaner, smarter, more innovative company you wanted It's a pretty tempered ecstasy.

Yes, I want a smaller Microsoft because I believe that Microsoft has exploded in size for no good reason. Going back to Even with the continued hiring binge since I started this blog, I had a small glimmer of hope that reason would be seen and discipline enacted to hire a limited set of high caliber contributors - and flush out the employees who are better suited working elsewhere.

That never happened. And now we're in a, " golly-gee-wilikers the cash ain't coming in like it was and we've done gone and hired all these people! How'd that happen?!? In a year, when this all passes, we'll be back to hiring like crazy, learning nothing. Unless the leaders at Microsoft that run tight, well managed organizations can step up during this time and flush out the binge-hirers. There's my little glimmer. Edit: put in links to the appropriate sources for the comments I quoted above.

Mini-Microsoft Microsoft. Posted by Who da'Punk at Monday, December 29, Mini, MSN just cut loose at least contractors. Volt alone cut - last day is 31st of December. Layoffs or no layoffs it may be a good time to announce the voluntary severance option to reduce headcount where it should be reduced first: those who don't want to be here anymore but won't leave without a nudge.

This simple measure may thin the ranks enough to please wall street and the 5th floor of b Firstly thanks, to the person whoever posted that there will be no layoffs and Steve Ballmer is considering it. Hope it comes true and quick as i can surely say its affecting work hell lot. Who can work if you are in a fear that you might be out of job after 15 days.

God himself would be frightened in such situation. After all we are human beings. Lets keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. God bless Microsoft. I have a new business that is estimated to make over million a year in the first two years and help our image quite a bit, more than anything we've ever done, its taken alot of people and alot of pitches, but I have to pull the plug and take my idea to Silicon Valley instead.

I feel disloyal, I miss the days before all these rumors where we were going to create a revolutionary new business that was going to change the world.

Or work hours a week on my day job so we can beat you-know-who, and Then work at night on revolutionary ideas. That was an amazing bonus to my day job, and its funny to think I would have given Microsoft in a heartbeat an idea that will make me many millions on my own.

Maybe there's some miracle and those days will come back, but for now, I'm just counting down till the 15th. These men and women will be free to start something, that they own, where you can make millions for your ideas and hard work. People that were never free before will be free to create the next big thing. I've watched friends get laid off year after year for countless reasons. It's your duty to remain competitive and be prepared for the unexpected May He touch Steve with His noodly appendage.

If we go through with this, Microsoft is going to find layoffs damaging to morale. If you look around, I bet you can see the damage already just from the rumors of layoffs. Unless layoffs are done perfectly -- and they never are -- they create fear and panic.

People will see their friends and colleagues pushed out the door, often for reasons that make little sense to anyone.

Everyone who is left will fear for their future and start planning for their own escape, plans that usually will not include Microsoft. Good people easily will find positions elsewhere. What will be left is those that have few other options and those that see opportunities to exploit the reorganization for their own personal gain. A better solution would be to raise expectations. Make it clear that, to be at Microsoft, you have to work hard to build things that matter to customers.

People who are not up to that will leave. The best people will be excited by the opportunity for recognition and success. The company should also keep hiring during this time of recession. This is an opportunity for Microsoft. With chaos, layoffs, and reorgs at other companies, truly phenomenal people are now coming on the market that normally cannot be hired at any cost.

We should set a very high hiring bar, but keep hiring, taking these rare finds while they are available for the taking. I can confirm the "Some products and some teams are just gone. They are still working out what, if anything, rises from the ashes. It's unfortunate that the cuts appear to be happening by axing entire groups rather than individuals for performance. We are going to end up losing a lot of good people and keep plenty of bad ones.

I second that. Voluntary severance accompanied with surgical expulsion of the gangrene is a fine idea. First, ridding the place of deadwood is necessary for the sake of the company's health. Beside that, a sweet voluntary severance package can motivate those who are wanting out and perhaps will eventually leave to accelerate whatever their plans are and leave with goodwill.

And the company gets to meet its lowered operating expense targets also. Can you confirm if this was a new project? They may be in for a surprise after taking it to Silicon Valley. Individual performance it's being track by review and constantly pushing underperformer out of the company.

He wasnt sure how long the current project will remain funded. Are there others who have been asked the same? Entertainment and Devices Just axe the entire boat anchor of a divison. Have security escort Robbie Bach out the front door.

Find somewhere to stick the keyboard and mouse people. Windows Mobile should stay with someone competent enough to compete with Apple and Google. I am shocked at how many cellphone companies are rapidly moving to make Android their target platform.

Xbox - kill it outright. Put an end to the 8 billion dollar 8 year long train wreck of a product. Zune - kill it or restart from scratch with new leadership. More and more people are using their cellphones for their music. Five years from now is there going to be a significant dedicated portable music player market to even put resources into to try to capture? After the Xbox mess is gone put some of that money into reviving the PC game market.

We've let that vital pillar of Windows marketplace domination decay from neglect since this Xbox fiasco started. Being able to play the latest and greatest PC games only on a Windows pc is one of the major factors of why Microsoft has the hearts of minds of so many young IT guys out there.

Its better to lose entire groups that are money pits even if we lose a few rock stars instead of nickel and diming the cuts to end up hurting morale and performance across the company. If the people are really rock starts they can find a job elsewhere at the company or somewhere else in the area. Layoff has been confirmed..

It is not their fault. The execs should take a pay cut too for their wrong decisions. For example: if a L62 looses their bonus they might not be able to send one of their children to their school of choice - a pretty significant lifestyle, and therefore morale hit. If a L70 get's their bonus reduced or removed Let's face it - not the same hit. A lot of hands were slapped. Regarding the Zune being strong. Zune did not hire people. They grew that large in part due to the AmirM departure.

Several DMD teams were re-orged into Zune. Roughly 80 of the are L65 and above. Dude, pay attention to the families of some of these people. Dude, get it through your head that Microsoft is not a charity organization.

It has no obligation to individuals, families, communities, or anyone else other than its stockholders. It's primary goal is to maximize profits, and if it has to do that by de-bloating, then so be it. Grow up and quit whining! Vision, can not be owned. It can definitly do anything that a PC can do! Some Anonymous Poster said AND the rumors are confirmed on Fudzilla.

Well, then, excuse me while I go polish up my resume. Come on, everyone. This is getting silly. Self-referencing rumors do not constitute proof. The plural of anonymously presented, evidence free anecdote is not data. I wonder how much it would cost us in severence pay. As for the fudzilla article referenced by another anonymous poster What are the sources on that article? It says "Microsoft staff has been informed" I didn't get any email on FTE all or some alias like that One difference this time is that we have a few new exec leaders in the mix that frankly I have more confidence in then the ones in place back in I feel KT is tough but fair and knows how to manage sales and operations through a downturn and he is the biggest dial the company has at our disposal in order to cut costs and maintain some revenue.

The product group RIF's will certainly help contain costs but are more likely just taking advantage of the economy to prune dead weight projects Accountability is hard.

Very often the folks who make big bad wrong decisions get hugely rewarded for being on top of an org that cleans up behind them while the folks who warned early and often and ended up doing the cleanup get penalized because they weren't onboard with the original vision and are an embarrasment with they whining about having told everyone how wrong they were. I'd be interested to see the breakdown of the bucket distributions in management and nonmanagement functions.

Killing the corp wide bottom will likely result in a heavy skew towards bad management I've been a PM in Windows for past year. Why would you kill a business that is growing and winning against Sony? Where have you been? PC Gaming is dead. Why would you continue to pay for new machines to game when you can play the best games on a console.

Not to mention, strategically the living room is more valuable than the office. Apple, Sony, and Nintendo are invested heavily in extending their products into the living room. Xbox Live and Xbox are Microsoft's only shot and we have a lead. Are we sure H-1Bs have to go first in a layoff?

They didn't in when Sun was doing layoffs. I'm working on Windows User Interface and morale is super high. How could it not be when Windows 7 pre-beta! Besides that, lot of org churn around the corner, if you're in Mobile you know exactly what i'm talking about To the XBox fanboy who said, "We have a lead".

Have you seen the sales figures for Wii or even simply played one? Yeah graphics are primitive but kids and adults love how it works. XBox needs to be fixed re: scratching DVDs and made quieter and cheaper along with better gameplay. Saying something like this in just paints you as a seriously out-of-touch something longing for the glory days. Also, please review recent Xbox profit data, including our massively healthy and rapidly growing LIVE business -- you might change your tune.

VPs are already leaving. Look for Lewis Levin or Richard Mcaniff richardm in the address book or on the web site. They are already gone. So I think executives will be axed also. I'm not sure why everyone thinks product groups will get the big axe. Did you forget about MSIT, or product support? There must be people in MSIT and product support across the world. Also just letting all CSGs and vendors go would be a huge savings. To the poster on the other thread who said that CSGs do all the work.

He must be in a group that will be let go soon. Look at Office most of the dev teams have no CSGs on them. Also I think most devs will be save on good products. Writing software is our core if we start laying devs off that will bad. Sales people, evangelist, support, IT It has no obligation to individuals, families, communities, or anyone else other than its stockholders Tell that to the EU, China or India.

Q1 FY08 revenue, profit: million, million profit margin: 8. From the Q, The Entertainment and Devices Division EDD is responsible for developing, producing, and marketing the Xbox video game system, including consoles and accessories, third-party games, games published under the Microsoft brand, and Xbox Live operations, as well as research, sales, and support of those products.

In addition to Xbox, we offer the Zune digital music and entertainment device; PC software games; online games; Mediaroom, our Internet protocol television software; mobile and embedded device platforms, Surface computing platform; and other devices.

EDD also leads the development efforts of our line of consumer software and hardware products including application software for Macintosh computers and Microsoft PC hardware products, and is responsible for all retail sales and marketing for Microsoft Office and the Windows operating systems.

Xbox console and games; Xbox Live; Zune; Mediaroom; numerous consumer software and hardware products such as mice and keyboards ; Windows Mobile software and services platform; Windows Embedded device operating system; Windows Automotive; and Surface computing platform.

Entertainment and devices businesses are highly competitive, characterized by rapid product life cycles, frequent introductions of new products and titles, and the development of new technologies. The markets for our products are characterized by significant price competition. We anticipate continued pricing pressure from our competitors. From time to time, we have responded to this pressure by reducing prices on certain products. Our competitors vary in size from very small companies with limited resources to very large, diversified corporations with substantial financial and marketing resources.

We compete primarily on the basis of product innovation, quality and variety, timing of product releases, and effectiveness of distribution and marketing. Our Xbox hardware business competes with console platforms from Nintendo and Sony, both of which have a large, established base of customers.

The lifecycle for video game consoles averages five to seven years. We released Xbox , our second generation console, in November Nintendo and Sony released new versions of their game consoles in late We believe the success of video game consoles is determined by the availability of games for the console, providing exclusive game content that gamers seek, the computational power and reliability of the console, and the ability to create new revenue sources such as advertising and downloadable content.

We think the Xbox is positioned well against competitive console products based on significant innovation in hardware architecture, new developer tools, expanded revenue sources, and continued strong exclusive content from our own game franchises such as Halo. In addition to competing against software published for non-Xbox platforms, our games business also competes with numerous companies that we have licensed to develop and publish software for the Xbox consoles.

Zune competes with the Apple iPod and other digital music and entertainment devices. Our PC hardware products face aggressive competition from computer and other hardware manufacturers, many of which are also current or potential partners. Mediaroom faces competition primarily from a variety of competitors that provide elements of an Internet protocol television delivery platform, but that do not provide end-to-end solutions for the network operator. The embedded operating system business is highly fragmented with many competitive offerings.

No, because other than for unauthorized aliens, immigration law prohibits citizenship discrimination in employment. Employers cannot selectively fire people based on citizenship or immigration status. Only reason Mac BU was made part of E and D is because Balmer didnt want to fire someone, who had pledged to make the division profitable by FY08 or quit.

XBox needs to be fixed re: scratching DVDs and made quieter and cheaper along with better gameplay I love how no one can mention any of Xbox' accomplishment without someone throwing down the Wii trump card. Wii is doing great having found a new market. The original gamer still prefers a next-generation console with more immerses, more involved games over a gimmicky remote.

The winner of the next-gen systems is important, and it is and accomplishment. Obviously you are not a gamer if you think Xbox are scratching disks or that Wii has better gameplay. Retirement homes and kids under the age of 12 think it has better gameplay ie: non-gamers.

Obviously this genius hasn't heard the news about Qi Lu. This is not true if you pitch a "vision" instead of an idea.

I think you guys need to just take a break from reading this blog. It's just going to stress you out and make you panic and will have a ripple effect. Every person I have ever known who was laid off has always said it was the best thing that ever happened to them. It made them pursue other oppurtunites that they would not have had if it wasn't for being forced to move on.

Regardless of what happens in your company, it always works out in the end. Best of luck! Staff at Microsoft have been informed that the company is readying major layoffs to its worldwide operations and it's not a small cut, either.

Currently Microsoft employs about 90, people across the world and from what we're hearing, some 15, of those are expected to be giving marching orders come January 15th. That's almost 17 percent of Microsoft's total work force, not exactly a small number. So far, we haven't managed to confirm what departments or regions will be hit the worst, but we're hearing that MSN might be carrying the brunt of the layoffs.

It's unlikely that Microsoft will be laying off a lot of people in departments and regions that are doing well, and considering the recent upturn in console sales, we have a feeling that at least most of the people working in the Xbox departments will be pretty safe. The layoffs will take place a week before Microsoft's Q2 earnings report, which takes place on the 22nd of January , and it doesn't seem like the date set for the layoffs is coincidental.

We'll bring you more on this subject as it unfolds. Very often the folks who make big bad wrong decisions get hugely rewarded for being on top of an org What a callous cynical remark. Your statement is such an over simplification of what a corporations purpose for existing is.

The Microsoft Empire was built on the backs of it's employees. MS is not manufacturing company it is a knowledge worker and IP company. MS invests a lot of money into the recruiting, hiring and development of it's workforce A major company also has a responsiblity to the customers first, the community and then the stock holders.

Hey, let's just get rid of Community Affairs while we are at it. I am sure that Washington DC is happy to spend their money somewhere else besides on Microsoft. Microsoft became successful because it built products that a lot of people wanted to use, listened to their customers and improved their products. As a result their stock price went up. A lot of the stock holders are also employees. When Bill Gates and others that started and built this company to what it isthey were about providing customer value.

The didn't spend their time looking at the freakin stock ticker! Let's just outsource every freaking job to other countries because that way we can get a lot more or a lot less and make our stockholders happy! Never mind that the US will become a third world country because most of the jobs are outsourced but hey, our stock holders are happy and that is all that matters. If you subscribe to the fact that the only reason a company exists is to keep it's shareholders happy, I feel sorry for you because you are then nothing but a piece of software with no real soul Xbox returned a nice profit this past year with continued growth this past quarter.

Sony beat themselves this generation with their insistence on including Blu-Ray with the PS3. The price was too high in the beginning because people didn't want to pay the extra money and end up with a losing hand if HD-DVD took off and it's too high now because standalone Blu-Ray players are a bargain. Plus unlike you, they were also competing against themselves given the deep entrenchment and ongoing support the PS2 still enjoyed while the PS3 was getting rolling.

And while you're "winning" against Sony, how's that Wii doing? Spoken like a low level dev. Bottom line: no. I've worked in many roles both in and out of the company.

There is fat that can be cut everywhere. I'm not in sales, but sales for example is critical. Granted, it may get scaled back if there are people on the bench, but this is regional based on economic factors. Again, not immune, but don't get caught up in the "dev is core to the biz so we're safe" mentality. There were some pretty big changes in the Windows org circa beta 2 of Vista. Good stuff so far, I'm seeing less trolls and a bit more in the way of substantive information.

I read somewhere else that a lot of companies in Silicon Valley Sun, Seagate, etc are actually drawing up the lay-off lists over the holidays, and they will all be announced after New Years. It may or may not be the same here at MSFT, but thankfully the wait will be over soon and we'll know for sure in 2 weeks time.

Just a note on the economy. Retail will be the next big shoe to drop. This means more layoffs, and of course, it will feed on itself and affect other parts of the economy. If not Jan, we won't be out of the woods yet. Always have a plan B, and if and when you survive the layoffs, just continue doing the best you can. Why should H1B be the first to go?

Are they not as capable as others or did they not go through the same recruitment process to get a job here? Sounds more like Xenophobia to me. Why are we even discussing this? Only then would it be in the best interests of the Company. What's going on with 30GB Zunes this morning? It sounds like a world-wide event, with folks waking up to bricked Zunes.

Could this be another PR disaster in the making?! Whats happening in SMSG??? I work in the trenches and I have observed the bloating of numbers in the last couple of years while the quality of hires has consistently deteriorated. At best the quality is mediocre at worst downright disgusting. Some believe that their sole purpose of existence is to be aligned with "Sales Excellence" or "Operational Excellence" and licking their manager's and skip level manager's boots.

I won't mind seeing that lot shape up or ship out. However seeing the present culture of power centers and protecting one's flock would see at least some of them surviving and thriving As the dev he was responding to I'm a dev lead in Office on a core product. Yes there is fat to trim every where and i'm sure devs will be cut some where. My point was that core dev teams that are making money dev, pm and test will be safe.

Teams that are doing greenhouse projects not research but teams that are creating or have created stuff that never really caught on should start looking around. I think MSIT will be hurting if this layoff is true. IT is always a group that gets hit in a layoff. When I said devs are safe I mean that we still have to build software. Software is the core compentency of Microsoft. Yes sales is needed. I'm not a person who thinks you can build it and it will sell by itself.

I tried that in the mid to late 90's then the bubble burst and I came back to MS. I also think that core product teams are safe. Windows and Office are close to shipping, i. I don't think there will be big shake up in those orgs. However, I could be wrong since we are just guessing anyway. But like I said look for VPs who are already gone, richardm, lewisl. Not sure who else is gone. I think that execs need to be worried also not just the front line.

MSFT is cash rich and needs to invest in its future. This is a good time to do so because there is less competition from start up companies and from companies such as Yahoo that are sucking wind. They may stop hiring. But I doubt there would be indiscriminate 10 percent across the board layoffs. At least not yet. Revenues and earnings have to suffer demonstrably before that happens. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience!

This is relevant because: "I think a requirement like having to shed all the H1B hires absolutely nullifies Microsoft doing a classic layoff. Looks like Robbie Bach should be given another promotion.

One by one, our old friends are gone. Death, natural or not, prison, deported. Hyman Roth is the only one left, because he always made money for his partners. Regarding H1Bs My understanding is that H1Bs are issued for positions for which there are no capable individuals already in the country.

I would imagine that as layoffs progress in the industry, that H1B status will have to be considered. If there are equally qualified candidates that have citizenship or immigration status not fast-tracked via an H1B, one would think they should have an edge. And before people are up in arms with claims of descrimination or insular policies - this isn't jingoistic in the slightest.

The reality is that there will be a flood of capable workers in the market as a result of the layoffs, which places an additional burden on the government, which is passed through to the taxpayer. While there are some truly unique hires that would still warrant an H1b candidate winning out, one would think they'd be fewer and far between - particularly for low level dev jobs. HR decided they'd start the layoffs early by letting go of all the 30 Gb Zunes.

Nothing to see here folks. Customers say the 30 gigabyte version of the device is plagued by hardware issues. Blogs and bulletin boards noted that the digital music players get stuck on the Zune logo screen when loading.

A message on the Zune support Web site acknowledged the problem and informed customers Microsoft was working to address it, but didn't identify the cause. We will keep customers informed on next steps via the support page on zune. A forum, entitled "Help-frozen zune," currently registers more than 18, comments. Microsoft has recently beefed up efforts to win more Zune customers through initiatives such as allowing consumers who pay a monthly subscription to listen to music on a Zune to keep some of the music they download.

Dedicated engineers DSE are paid for directly by the customer. The same is true for TAMs. The Buzz Word Manager. A manager often gets to their position by relationships, saying the right thing to the right people, learning from a young age that using the right words will get you where you want to go.

Managing by buzz words does not a professional make. Insist on transitional management by actual results, correlated by the speed and accuracy of those actual results.

Understand that the cause of market failures besides the usual outside influences is the manager, not the IC. When hype wins over truth and competence, everybody loses.

On discrimination. The three words, however, function as a controlling feature in virtually all hires by both the manager and the HR person, not by intention and not directly but because people are uncomfortable with opposites and extremes of themselves. Discrimination systematically works against people who fit into the three categories whether you admit it or not, and to a rational person the action is almost undetectable in your decision process.

It is about hiring people who are better than you or who have a skill you desperately need to succeed as a product group. On depth of character. HR people can be one shovel deep shallow. Meaning their intellectual and background strength to understand a person almost always only goes as deep as one layer, one level of consideration, one shallow take on a situation.

In the real world, the real person, the complexity of getting to success is thousands of layers deep. It takes depth of character in the recruiter to see that. On running downhill. This means the HR person looks for those who stand out, who are infected with something different, or for people who think outside the bureaucracy, those who are difficult to get along with because their effectiveness is individually born, not group managed.

These people have always been eliminated from the selection pool for hire and selected for the elimination pool for fire—it is basic politics. An HR person takes the path of least resistance, running downhill to insure a group is placated instead of insuring the group is effectively diversified. The process of managing people is very different for each one.

I got invited into one of those special "manager" meetings on thursday which resolved to absolutely zero activity other than asking opaque questions for which the answer was already known.

Live Meeting is one of the worst places to be right now - and it has gotten downright hostile and strange in recent times. People are pulled into meetings with management where they get interrogated about what they are working on "We want to hear what you think you know about XYZ, this is not a knowledge-sharing session On top of that they must account for their time by the hour.

Live Meeting is in its death throes. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more.