Microsoft set to axe nearly 2,000 jobs in bid to 'streamline' smartphone biz

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion
Microsoft on Wednesday announced a restructuring of its mobile hardware group that will see as many as 1,850 employees -- most of them former Nokia staffers -- lose their jobs as the company looks to right the listing smartphone ship.




"We are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiation -- with enterprises that value security, manageability and our Continuum capability, and consumers who value the same," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a release. "We will continue to innovate across devices and on our cloud services across all mobile platforms."

The company says that up to 1,350 positions at its Finnish hardware office will be affected, with another 500 positions on the chopping block around the world.

As a result of the move, Microsoft will book a $950 million restructuring charge. Of that figure, $200 million is reserved for severance packages.

These layoffs continue Microsoft's efforts to wind down its Nokia experiment, for which the firm has taken billions of dollars in losses.

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced the sale of what used to be Nokia's feature phone group to Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn. That $350 million deal includes an "exclusive global license" to build Nokia-branded phones and tablets for the next 10 years.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 37
    knowitallknowitall Posts: 1,648member
    How to axe a company, part three, the final act.
    teaearlegreyhotmagman1979
  • Reply 2 of 37
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Microsoft does this and nothing happens to the stock price. It may even go up. Even though Apple has much more cash and revenue than MS if Apple were to announce a billion dollar write off on something it would be presented as the Apocalypse of Doom. 

    So Microsoft will now concentrate on “enterprise” phones instead of consumer phones? Wait... what?
    edited May 2016 caliai46teaearlegreyhotmagman1979baconstangbadmonkpatchythepiratejony0
  • Reply 3 of 37
    xbitxbit Posts: 390member
    The Elopcalypse is complete.
    ibilljkichlineSpamSandwich
  • Reply 4 of 37
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,808member
    I can't help but think of Steve Ballmer's reaction to the iPhone in 2007. Maybe if he had taken it more seriously they'd still be in the game today. Its unfortunate how much he killed Microsoft because of his arrogance. Not only did he do this for the iPhone, but many other Apple products.
    ai46badmonkP-DogNC
  • Reply 5 of 37
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,727member
    macxpress said:
    I can't help but think of Steve Ballmer's reaction to the iPhone in 2007. Maybe if he had taken it more seriously they'd still be in the game today. Its unfortunate how much he killed Microsoft because of his arrogance. Not only did he do this for the iPhone, but many other Apple products.
    Remind me, who's Microsoft?
    bobcat62ai46magman1979baconstangbadmonkP-DogNC
  • Reply 6 of 37
    fotoformatfotoformat Posts: 302member
    Subhead quote, "...as the company looks to right the listing smartphone ship." In think "about to be scuttled" would be more appropriate!
    edited May 2016 ai46teaearlegreyhotbaconstang
  • Reply 7 of 37
    lord amhranlord amhran Posts: 902member
    #Premature
    caliibillcnocbuibobcat62magman1979badmonkapres587jony0
  • Reply 8 of 37
    regurgitatedcoproliteregurgitatedcoprolite Posts: 280member
    Sad to hear about all those Finns losing their jobs. 

    It's tragic Nokia got hooked up with Microsoft. 
    cnocbuicanukstormxbitai46teaearlegreyhotmagman1979badmonk
  • Reply 9 of 37
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,808member
    macxpress said:
    I can't help but think of Steve Ballmer's reaction to the iPhone in 2007. Maybe if he had taken it more seriously they'd still be in the game today. Its unfortunate how much he killed Microsoft because of his arrogance. Not only did he do this for the iPhone, but many other Apple products.
    Remind me, who's Microsoft?


    P-DogNC
  • Reply 10 of 37
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Apple is Doomed.....
    delreyjoneslkrupp
  • Reply 11 of 37
    vukasikavukasika Posts: 102member
    I honestly think that if Microsoft can quickly get its head out of it's rump and delivery a flagship phablet that utilizes the surface pen that they could actually turn the situation around by focusing on enterprise customers first. The HP Elite x3 is a good concept of what moving in that direction could look like but the idea of HP getting something right is a challenging notion for me to wrap my brain around.
    london11
  • Reply 12 of 37
    indieshackindieshack Posts: 328member
    regurgitatedcoprolite said:
    Sad to hear about all those Finns losing their jobs. 

    It's tragic Nokia got hooked up with Microsoft. 
    Ditto, my thoughts too. Looks like most of the job losses will come in Finland where Nokia has been a well-established company and many families depend on it. I hope Microsoft will do the right thing by them (I assume they will - a large chunk of the quoted write-down is probably severance) and best wishes to them in finding new work. 
    ai46teaearlegreyhot
  • Reply 13 of 37
    volcanvolcan Posts: 1,799member
    They should do what Google and Adobe do...just keep making software for iOS.
    calidelreyjonespatchythepirate
  • Reply 14 of 37
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Has Microsoft actually improved at all under Nadella?  I know Balmer is not thought of highly, but has Nadella actually produced better results?  Every time Nadella spouts some BS about mobile and the future it's in conjunction with an announcement of mobile related job cuts in the thousands.  He seems to be steadily eliminating Microsoft's mobile-proficient human expertise while promising big things for the future of mobile.  The two seem counter intuitive.  I don't believe him.
    caliapres587
  • Reply 15 of 37
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,700member
    vukasika said:
    I honestly think that if Microsoft can quickly get its head out of it's rump and delivery a flagship phablet that utilizes the surface pen that they could actually turn the situation around by focusing on enterprise customers first. The HP Elite x3 is a good concept of what moving in that direction could look like but the idea of HP getting something right is a challenging notion for me to wrap my brain around.
    Looking at this announcement and Myerson's letter to his staff, that is their intention:

    https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/windows-phone/67400/microsoft-streamline-windows-phone-business

    “We are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiation, with enterprises that value security, manageability and our Continuum capability,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a prepared statement. “We will continue to innovate across devices and on our cloud services across all mobile platforms.”
  • Reply 16 of 37
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    With BYOD it's delusional to think a mythical 'Surface' phone is going to penetrate the enterprise. BYOD can't be put back into a bottle and Microsoft has little market share in the consumer space. Are businesses even replacing laptops with Surface Pro's? The company I work for has over 200,000 employees and we use Dell and HP laptops. I couldn't get a Surface Pro even if I wanted one. Also we just recently upgraded to Windows 7 and IE 11; we won't be on Windows 10 any time soon. Microsoft doesn't need to be in the phone hardware business. 
  • Reply 17 of 37
    williamhwilliamh Posts: 1,033member
    Sad to hear about all those Finns losing their jobs. 

    It's tragic Nokia got hooked up with Microsoft. 
    I think those people were destined to lose their jobs whether or not they got hooked up with Microsoft.  Microsoft may even have kept Nokia afloat longer than it would have been.  I had a Nokia about 15 years ago before I started buying Sony "smart" phones and then iPhones.  Getting another Nokia has never crossed my mind.  That's just me, but I expect many people are the same.

    That's an interesting member name you chose.
    edited May 2016
  • Reply 18 of 37
    williamhwilliamh Posts: 1,033member

    lkrupp said:
    Microsoft does this and nothing happens to the stock price. It may even go up. Even though Apple has much more cash and revenue than MS if Apple were to announce a billion dollar write off on something it would be presented as the Apocalypse of Doom. 

    So Microsoft will now concentrate on “enterprise” phones instead of consumer phones? Wait... what?
    Expectations of Nokia being a money pit were built in to the stock price.  If Apple announced that some money suck division is getting axed (if they have one), they might see the stock price go up too.
  • Reply 19 of 37
    waverboywaverboy Posts: 106member
    Unfortunately our company replaced our laptops with Surface Pro 2s, and everyone hates those buggy fussy POS.
    caliai46magman1979
  • Reply 20 of 37
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,250member
    vukasika said:
    I honestly think that if Microsoft can quickly get its head out of it's rump and delivery a flagship phablet that utilizes the surface pen that they could actually turn the situation around by focusing on enterprise customers first. The HP Elite x3 is a good concept of what moving in that direction could look like but the idea of HP getting something right is a challenging notion for me to wrap my brain around.
    Even if they do that, it will still run their awful operating system. 
    ai46magman1979
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