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Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

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Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#101

Post by smackfu »

pierreio wrote: post #94

So MS Bought Nokia and ~30k employees for ~$7.2 billion last April. 3 months later, MS may now be firing ~half of the Nokia group. The executives who drove that catastrophic deal stay. What a testament to how disastrous big M&A really is. Is there any large acquisition that succeeded in the last 10 years? I'd feel sorry if I was a Nokia guy there, they pulled out the best non-Apple phone hardware in the last years. P…

Depends on the viewpoint: When you acquire a company, are the employees assets or liabilities?

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#102

Post by Zigurd »

sz4kerto wrote: post #64

Stephen Elop's email on the same topic, but focused on ex-Nokians: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2014/jul14/07-17an... tl,dr;: - Nokia X is dead - other Devices departments are not affected/the effect is limited

This is a bit of a bad sign. It means Microsoft won't have their own AOSP-based product. Android apps and ecosystem elements will always be second priority, no matter what any management claims. This makes it less likely that "mobile first, cloud first" actually means something different from "devices and services." If Windows Phone fails to gain altitude, it will drag the rest of the strategy down with it.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#103

Post by bryanlarsen »

[deleted] wrote: post #51
ivanche wrote: post #21

"Following the Nokia acquisition, completed in April, Microsoft had roughly 127,104 employees[...]" I don't have knowledge about managing a company, but is it at all possible to efficiently lead 127000+ employees? Has MSFT become a non-manageable behemoth?

[deleted]

I can't tell if you're trying to be sarcastic or not.

A lot of people have been saying for a long time that Microsoft's biggest problem is that its various divisions work at cross-purposes, even competing and fighting with each other.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#104

Post by sz4kerto »

pierreio wrote: post #94

So MS Bought Nokia and ~30k employees for ~$7.2 billion last April. 3 months later, MS may now be firing ~half of the Nokia group. The executives who drove that catastrophic deal stay. What a testament to how disastrous big M&A really is. Is there any large acquisition that succeeded in the last 10 years? I'd feel sorry if I was a Nokia guy there, they pulled out the best non-Apple phone hardware in the last years. P…

> Is there any large acquisition that succeeded in the last 10 years?

Yes, many. Think of the Lenovo-IBM deal -- massive success. The Facebook-Whatsapp deal is 2.5x bigger than this acquisition, we'll see how that works out (financially). Google-Youtube is a big one that can be considered as a big success as well. Ebay-Paypal. FB-Instagram.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#105

Post by plerophoria »

k2enemy wrote: post #3

And now, every day for a year, everyone gets to wake up and wonder if this is the day that they will get laid off. Why can't they wait and make the announcement once they know who they will eliminate and do it in one swift action? Why put people in limbo for a year?

Personally I'd much rather hear about a potential layoff far in advance. It would give me a chance to prepare financially and start looking at new jobs.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#106

Post by roc »

untog wrote: post #98
pierreio wrote: post #94

So MS Bought Nokia and ~30k employees for ~$7.2 billion last April. 3 months later, MS may now be firing ~half of the Nokia group. The executives who drove that catastrophic deal stay. What a testament to how disastrous big M&A really is. Is there any large acquisition that succeeded in the last 10 years? I'd feel sorry if I was a Nokia guy there, they pulled out the best non-Apple phone hardware in the last years. P…

Is there any large acquisition that succeeded in the last 10 years? You might have the wrong criteria for acquisition success. I'm sure both Nokia and MS knew these layoffs would come before they agreed to the purchase.

I'm sure Nokia itself knew these layoffs were likely-to-inevitable whether that deal happened or not.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#107

Post by Zigurd »

kabdib wrote: post #17
67726e wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming that an announcement like this could effect stock prices. I have no knowledge of stock trading at all, but I would assume they would announce something like this if they expected it to have a positive effect.

Stock is up over 45 now . . . Getting rid of dead wood is a great idea. Tons of middle management there, just sitting for years and causing obstructive damage.

Getting rid of the senior management and board members who allowed the Nokia buy to happen in the first place would address the cause. Layoffs are just a symptom of such management failures.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#108

Post by cookiecaper »

frou_dh wrote: post #97
pxlpshr wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of writing "Christ", you should consider posting an email as if you were the one newly responsible for a $364B company and a reduction in 18,000 jobs. I'd be curious to see other people's management style from their armchair.

I would spontaneously combust if I were responsible for a $364B company on a good day, never mind deciding how layoffs should be done. It's just surprising that parody-level corporate-speak still gets used despite having being derided for years in mainstream press and conversation.

A few people may express derision for the political apparatus, but the reality remains that this type of language is extremely effective.

I used to believe that if one were selective, he could find discerning groups of people where political shenanigans were of minimal effect. I've since learned that no matter what, politics is a matter of survival in any group of 5+ people, especially in cultural circumstances that emphasize individual independence and freedom.

We can't fault a corporate CEO for donning highly-sanitized corporate political speech. Like it or not, executives would be dead meat without it.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#109

Post by canistr »

frou_dh wrote: post #97
pxlpshr wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of writing "Christ", you should consider posting an email as if you were the one newly responsible for a $364B company and a reduction in 18,000 jobs. I'd be curious to see other people's management style from their armchair.

I would spontaneously combust if I were responsible for a $364B company on a good day, never mind deciding how layoffs should be done. It's just surprising that parody-level corporate-speak still gets used despite having being derided for years in mainstream press and conversation.

/s/corporate\ speak/lawyer\ speak
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