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Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

bloomberg.com

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Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

#21

Post by geodel »

idkwhattocallme wrote: post #9

For the most part, I'm indifferent to layoffs. Companies over hire and then course correct. It's part of the game. But for MSFT, it rubs me the wrong way. In the past 5 years, their stock has soared (150% on stock and doubled in valuation). They are insanely profitable ($82B profit). They are diverse (no existential business risk). The fact that they are unceremoniously laying off 30K of the people that helped them g…

Talking about stock price is in fact indication of layoffs being working not other way round. I don't think people are arguing against "job is just a paycheck" in last 5 years. In the same vein for company "employee is just a cost".

Union may save job for few who have job but people who don't (and they are lot more and increasing) are not gonna get helped by any union.

Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

#22

Post by daxfohl »

runjake wrote: post #14
idkwhattocallme wrote: post #9

For the most part, I'm indifferent to layoffs. Companies over hire and then course correct. It's part of the game. But for MSFT, it rubs me the wrong way. In the past 5 years, their stock has soared (150% on stock and doubled in valuation). They are insanely profitable ($82B profit). They are diverse (no existential business risk). The fact that they are unceremoniously laying off 30K of the people that helped them g…

Didn't Satya or somebody state in recent months that it was a tactic to get rid of low performers? I believe Meta is doing something similar. Edit: Allegedly not. https://www.financialexpress.com/life/technology-microsoft-c... "Nadella addressed the recent layoffs, clarifying that the decision was not based on individual job performance. “This is a structural change, not a reflection of how people were performing,” N…

Shifting focus is not narrowing focus. They should be able to shift employees accordingly too.

Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

#23

Post by sitzkrieg »

idkwhattocallme wrote: post #9

For the most part, I'm indifferent to layoffs. Companies over hire and then course correct. It's part of the game. But for MSFT, it rubs me the wrong way. In the past 5 years, their stock has soared (150% on stock and doubled in valuation). They are insanely profitable ($82B profit). They are diverse (no existential business risk). The fact that they are unceremoniously laying off 30K of the people that helped them g…

[flagged]

Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

#24

Post by staticman2 »

999900000999 wrote: post #11
mjr00 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI works as a smokescreen when doing product development layoffs, but you can't really use it for sales, which is still very human-to-human, or when canceling entire projects like they're doing in XBox Game Studios.

I knew this was coming when Microsoft brought Activision. As ex game industry I nearly started crying at the news. Mergers always lead to layoffs, games aren't doing great as they're not essential in an iffy economy. Microsoft is seeing the writing on the wall and cutting internal studios. It's much cheaper to just pay 3rd parties to release on Gamepass vs having to fund an entire games development. I don't think we…

Xbox has been a declining brand for a while now.

They are struggling to make the case for buying games from the Windows Store instead of Steam and they are struggling to make the case to buy an Xbox Console instead of a Sony or Nintendo Console.

If we see Xbox branded PCs in the living room- that's more a sign of pivoting due to failure than anything else.

Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

#25

Post by dragonwriter »

daxfohl wrote: post #22
runjake wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't Satya or somebody state in recent months that it was a tactic to get rid of low performers? I believe Meta is doing something similar. Edit: Allegedly not. https://www.financialexpress.com/life/technology-microsoft-c... "Nadella addressed the recent layoffs, clarifying that the decision was not based on individual job performance. “This is a structural change, not a reflection of how people were performing,” N…

Shifting focus is not narrowing focus. They should be able to shift employees accordingly too.

There's an economic slowdown without relaxing the monetary tightening (because inflation, while relatively mild, is still above target.)

Further cutbacks from the level reached by the prior cutbacks due to monetary tightening when the economy was still in robust growth are to be expected, as are relatively transparent rationalizations that try to put an upbeat spin on them instead of the honest “the cost of money has gone up and the return of spending it on higher staffing levels has gone down.”

Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

#26

Post by wing-_-nuts »

sitzkrieg wrote: post #23
idkwhattocallme wrote: post #9

For the most part, I'm indifferent to layoffs. Companies over hire and then course correct. It's part of the game. But for MSFT, it rubs me the wrong way. In the past 5 years, their stock has soared (150% on stock and doubled in valuation). They are insanely profitable ($82B profit). They are diverse (no existential business risk). The fact that they are unceremoniously laying off 30K of the people that helped them g…

[flagged]

What nonsense. I've been in tech for ~ 20 years and it's literally taken me from living below the poverty line on ssi disability to fully financially independent. This is the one career where I could have accomplished that. It's basically 'disability proof'.

Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

#27

Post by tjpnz »

seatac76 wrote: post #6

Xbox has really become a sore point in the MS portfolio. Their pivot to a marketplace model where their games run everywhere is an admission that they lost the race to Sony. Block buster acquisition like Activision further have exacerbated their conundrum. What Xbox is now can be done by a much smaller number of people.

>Their pivot to a marketplace model where their games run everywhere is an admission that they lost the race to Sony.

Don Mattrick has a lot to answer for. Microsoft was killing it during the seventh generation and he was able to burn everything down over a period of two days. Xbox never recovered after that.

Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

#28

Post by oldpersonintx2 »

sitzkrieg wrote: post #23
idkwhattocallme wrote: post #9

For the most part, I'm indifferent to layoffs. Companies over hire and then course correct. It's part of the game. But for MSFT, it rubs me the wrong way. In the past 5 years, their stock has soared (150% on stock and doubled in valuation). They are insanely profitable ($82B profit). They are diverse (no existential business risk). The fact that they are unceremoniously laying off 30K of the people that helped them g…

[flagged]

[dead]

Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

#29

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

shadowtree wrote: post #16

This pairs well with: 1 - Microsoft investing 3bn USD in India-based developers: https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-invest-3-bln-ex... 2 - Microsoft having 4700 H1B filings for fiscal 2025: https://www.myvisajobs.com/employer/microsoft/ Utterly predictable behavior by Satya Nadella.

I will just comment that MSFT felt the need to get 1264 approvals for NEW H-1B petitions THIS year.

Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs

#30

Post by amendegree »

shadowtree wrote: post #16

This pairs well with: 1 - Microsoft investing 3bn USD in India-based developers: https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-invest-3-bln-ex... 2 - Microsoft having 4700 H1B filings for fiscal 2025: https://www.myvisajobs.com/employer/microsoft/ Utterly predictable behavior by Satya Nadella.

Not to hate on immigrants… but shouldn’t H1B’s be the first on the chopping block of layoffs? Hard to imagine all those H1Bs are so unique that others already employed can’t replace them.
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