Microsoft plans biggest job cuts in five years

Microsoft Corp plans the biggest round of job cuts in five years with the software giant moving to integrate Nokia Oyj's handset unit, according to Bloomberg which cited, people with knowledge of the company's plans.

The cuts, which may be announced this week, could hit the Nokia unit and those parts of Microsoft that overlap with with it, marketing and engineering

Following the takeover of the handset maker this April (See:Nokia completes deal with Microsoft sans Chennai plant), Microsoft counts a workforce of 127,000, which is far in excess of rivals Apple and Google.

Analysts have been expecting Microsoft's new CEO Satya Nadella to make some cuts - the company's  first major layoffs since 2009.

According to the report, the restructuring might come as the biggest in Microsoft history, exceeding the 5,800 jobs cut in 2009, the report said.

In a memo to employees, last week Nadella promised to "flatten the organization and develop leaner business processes", though he chose to remain silent on the widely expected cuts.

Nadella said, he would address the detailed organisational and financial issues for the company's new financial year, which started at the beginning of this month, when Microsoft reports quarterly results on 22 July.

Meanwhile, Nadella said yesterday, with its 'mobile-first, cloud-first world' concept, Microsoft aimed to reinvent productivity to empower every person and organisation on the planet.

"This is a bold ambition with massive opportunity for our partners as we design Microsoft experiences that you can creatively extend for every individual and business on the planet," Nadella said in a letter to Microsoft's partners at the 2014 Worldwide Partner Conference, which kicked off in the US Capital yesterday.

Nadella will deliver the key note address at the four-day 2014 Worldwide Partner Conference tomorrow, which will see 150 participants from India.

"The day I took on my new role I said that our industry does not respect tradition – it only respects innovation. I also said that in order to accelerate our innovation, we must rediscover our soul – our unique core," he said.

"In this new world, there will soon be more than 3 billion people with internet-connected devices – from a farmer in a remote part of the world with a smartphone, to a professional power user with multiple devices powered by cloud service-based apps spanning work and life," he said.

"The combination of many devices and cloud services used for generating and consuming data creates a unique opportunity for us. Our customers and society expect us to maximise the value of technology while also preserving the values that are timeless," he added.

"We will create more natural human-computing interfaces that empower all individuals. We will develop and deploy secure platforms and infrastructure that enable all industries. And we will strike the right balance between using data to create intelligent, personal experiences, while maintaining security and privacy. By doing all of this, we will have the broadest impact," Nadella said.

(See: Satya Nadella's letter to all employees: Bold Ambition & Our Core)