And at the same time Microsoft announces a new (sponsoring) partnership.
https://news.microsoft.com/source/emea/features/premier-leag...
Just excellent timing. :leSigh:
Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs
141–150 of 215 posts
Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs
#142This 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.
The layoffs are mostly in the sales division as pointed out by other commentators. H1B filings most likely would not be in sales.
How does that even work? You take away thousands of people in the market selling (presumably these were enterprise sales, not low end consumer stuff that "sells itself") and what happens to revenue? This strikes me as classic bean-counter logic that sees all sales and marketing effort as pure cost and assumes it can be eliminated while simultaneously viewing revenue as a constant, with no relationship between the two. Really an extension of the view that you should just eliminate all of the engineers first, because they're the most expensive. Too many people in the C-suite detached from their products and their customers, who see their company as just numbers in a spreadsheet.
Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Thinking about the middle class in the previous generation, it was unions that effectively ensured a labor job meant a secure future. I wonder if that's the solution (again). It is, and they are. It’s why Reagan fired ATC strikers and blackballed them. It’s why private enterprise stockpiled machine guns and chemical weapons against strikers back in the Gilded Age. It’s why companies will spend billions to block Uni…
Unions are not effective when there's such a surplus of labor and people willing to break lines. It wont work in today's tech labor market.
Sure it would. There are way more employed tech people than unemployed. Imagine if every single person at a company like MS up and went on strike tomorrow.
Could MS replace them all with scabs? Sure, with enough time and money. But it wouldn't happen overnight, and things would get very dire if not company ruining in the meantime.
Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eh, it can take a lot of political willpower to actually get rid of a low performer. We had an infamous case where it took two years to finally kick some deadweight to the curb. Wanted multiple years of underperforming performance reviews, I guess. Despite what some may claim about market efficiency, this is a public, wildly profitable company, not government. Unfortunately, I have never seen a layoff only remove wea…
Think of it more as a "controlled burn wildfire," you want to clear land to let new foliage grow. Same with companies; you clear out some space and see what ideas flourish with the new crop
Or, more likely, leadership is sloppy and lazy. They make mistakes and color outside the lines, and they pay for it. The hope is that they don't hurt themselves too bad.
Luckily for leadership, opportunity cost is completely invisible. They can't travel to alternate realities so they can just pretend they made a good decision and go with that. This is what causes the fun phenomena of "failing upwards" we see in modern American corporate leadership.
Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs
#145For 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…
I was raised in a union-supported household. I've posted about it on HN before, but the tl;dr is that I'm still conflicted because: - Pro: My father only graduated high school, yet was able to support a middle-class family - a house, two cars, 3 children, healthcare, etc., all with his union trucking job. That is almost unheard of today. - Con: My father often talked about the corruption, like work being throttled to…
What's really the difference between union guys playing a little bit of cards on the boss's dime and the boss paying you poverty wages so he can upgrade to a bigger yacht? might as well pick the option that's going to have your back.
Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs
#146This 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.
They need employees to serve their Indian market.
Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs
#147This 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.
Also: Microsoft India untouched by layoffs, actually hiring
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/mic...
Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs
#148This 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.
Layoffs are planned in India too.
Not according to the head of Microsoft India.
Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really? Where do you see that?
I am in India with friends in their last year in college. Hiring is effectively ice cold. Companies like TCS, Infosys wouldn't come to his college but now do. I just want to say good luck, these projects and products are on autopilot with no hiring in India and layoffs everywhere.
That probably has more to do with the absolute tsunami of CS graduates India produces.
Re: Microsoft to Cut 9k Workers in Second Wave of Major Layoffs
#150These recent Microsoft layoffs make no sense. Hitting all across the organization, performance, and tenure levels with no real pattern. Are the layoffs going to continue until moral improves or what?
I really want to destroy this blatant lying by tech CEOs that these are layoffs because of AI, tax laws or interest rates. Most tech companies have headcounts at their peak or slightly below. Whenever these amounts are fired, often near equal amounts are hired in India (and not counting L-1 transfers into the US, H1Bs etc). AI is a fiction invented to cover up the true reason: tech companies have adopted a long term strategy of profit making by wage arbitrage. They have identified their largest cost to be people, and are working to fix this.