Microsoft has announced that it will be laying off up to 5000 employees within the 18 months.Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote a lengthy letter to all Microsoft employees and e-mailed it to them. In the letter he insists that although the company is financially strong, the profits aren't up to what's been expected so 5,000 jobs have to be cut within 18 months, with 1,400 jobs to be eliminated immediately.
US senator asks Microsoft about job cuts, visas
A U.S. senator has asked Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) about its plans to slash up to 5,000 jobs, urging the world's biggest software company to preserve the jobs of Americans ahead of foreigners working on visas.
"I am concerned that Microsoft will be retaining foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American employees when it implements its layoff plan," Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said in a Jan. 22 letter.
Microsoft shocked investors on Thursday when it released quarterly results that missed Wall Street expectations, announced up to 5,000 layoffs and said it would no longer give forecasts for the rest of the fiscal year.
The company has been a champion of expanding the H-1B visa program, a temporary visa program that lets American companies and universities hire foreign workers in a category considered by the government to be a "specialty occupation."
Microsoft employs thousands of workers through the program, according to Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company has not yet received the letter, but it would respond to Grassley directly.
The letter asked Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to provide a breakdown of the jobs to be eliminated, and how many of those are individuals with H-1B visas and how many are Americans. Grassley also wants to know what the breakdown will be when the layoffs are complete.
"Microsoft has a moral obligation to protect these American workers by putting them first during these difficult economic times," Grassley said in the letter, copies of which were provided by his office on Friday.
"I am concerned that Microsoft will be retaining foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American employees when it implements its layoff plan," Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said in a Jan. 22 letter.
Microsoft shocked investors on Thursday when it released quarterly results that missed Wall Street expectations, announced up to 5,000 layoffs and said it would no longer give forecasts for the rest of the fiscal year.
The company has been a champion of expanding the H-1B visa program, a temporary visa program that lets American companies and universities hire foreign workers in a category considered by the government to be a "specialty occupation."
Microsoft employs thousands of workers through the program, according to Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company has not yet received the letter, but it would respond to Grassley directly.
The letter asked Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to provide a breakdown of the jobs to be eliminated, and how many of those are individuals with H-1B visas and how many are Americans. Grassley also wants to know what the breakdown will be when the layoffs are complete.
"Microsoft has a moral obligation to protect these American workers by putting them first during these difficult economic times," Grassley said in the letter, copies of which were provided by his office on Friday.
Erick Schonfeld has reported on TechCrunch.com that to date, Apple has sold 17 million iPhones but even with numbers like that, Apple is not beyond the reach of the faltering economy. Recently, Apple had to lay off 174 folks from its Elk Grove, Calif., campus, according to the Sacramento Bee newspaper, which had its first-ever layoffs last summer.
What interests me is that somewhere there is somebody who takes delight in the news of the employment lost by others. Just read the Soundoff forums for this paper and you'll notice a regular influx of non-well wishers who are thrilled at the thought of no more P-I and don't mind being rather mean about it. I've read scores of "ha-ha on you left-wing freaks" type sentiment and quite scathing remarks directed at the upper management of this newspaper and, frankly, I find it to be rather un-American at this time in history. No doubt there are people doing the secret snicker because Microsoft is laying off and although Ballmer makes my scalp twitch, I will temper my animosity with a huge dose of sympathy for the newly laid-off subexecutives of Microsoft.
What interests me is that somewhere there is somebody who takes delight in the news of the employment lost by others. Just read the Soundoff forums for this paper and you'll notice a regular influx of non-well wishers who are thrilled at the thought of no more P-I and don't mind being rather mean about it. I've read scores of "ha-ha on you left-wing freaks" type sentiment and quite scathing remarks directed at the upper management of this newspaper and, frankly, I find it to be rather un-American at this time in history. No doubt there are people doing the secret snicker because Microsoft is laying off and although Ballmer makes my scalp twitch, I will temper my animosity with a huge dose of sympathy for the newly laid-off subexecutives of Microsoft.
Microsoft earnings slump; 5,000 jobs eliminated
Software giant's shares plunge to 11-year low on surprise news.
Software giant's shares plunge to 11-year low on surprise news.
Microsoft Corp. rattled investors early Thursday by releasing a disappointing quarterly earnings report and announcing that it will lay off as many as 5,000 workers, a startling development for a company that has taken pride in avoiding such sweeping job cuts even during the lowest points of its roughly 33-year history.
Revenue grew slightly to $16.6 billion from $16.4 billion last year. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $17.08 billion.
"We are certainly in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime set of economic conditions," Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said during a conference call with analysts. "The economy is resetting to a lower level of business and consumer spending."
Shares of Microsoft fell sharply lower, responding to the disappointing financial results, as well as to the abrupt timing of their release. Microsoft had not been expected to post its numbers until after the market's close. The stock fell nearly 12% lower Thursday to close at $17.58, its lowest level since Jan. 1998.
"It's mostly the shock of the early release," analyst Robert Breza of RBC Capital Markets said of the sell-off.
A company representative said news of the results and layoffs were released early so that affected employees could be briefed "face to face" by their managers. An email from Ballmer to employees announcing the cuts was sent out at roughly 6 a.m. in Redmond, Wash., where Microsoft is based.
"We are certainly in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime set of economic conditions," Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said during a conference call with analysts. "The economy is resetting to a lower level of business and consumer spending."
Shares of Microsoft fell sharply lower, responding to the disappointing financial results, as well as to the abrupt timing of their release. Microsoft had not been expected to post its numbers until after the market's close. The stock fell nearly 12% lower Thursday to close at $17.58, its lowest level since Jan. 1998.
"It's mostly the shock of the early release," analyst Robert Breza of RBC Capital Markets said of the sell-off.
A company representative said news of the results and layoffs were released early so that affected employees could be briefed "face to face" by their managers. An email from Ballmer to employees announcing the cuts was sent out at roughly 6 a.m. in Redmond, Wash., where Microsoft is based.
'The economy is resetting
to a lower level of
business and consumer
spending.'
— Steve Ballmer, Microsoft.
— Steve Ballmer, Microsoft.
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