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Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

blogs.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#151

Post by omnicognate »

O__________O wrote: post #143

Interview with Microsoft’s CEO was posted by WSJ within past 24-hours that includes questions about if workers should be concerned about AI taking their jobs. My understanding was he expected companies to retrain their workforce to leverage AI. I would be super curious to hear his reasoning for why Microsoft did not take his own advice. Satya Nadella: Microsoft's Products Will Soon Access Open AI Tools Like ChatGPT |…

> Microsoft did not take his own advice.

This assumes AI taking people's jobs has anything to do with these layoffs. The press release mentions AI, but not in that context. I don't think these people are being laid off because MS is getting ChatGPT to write their code instead.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#152

Post by skinnymuch »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #43
shiftingleft wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft net income 2022: ~$70B. Why force pay cuts or fire workers when you have roughly $300k of net income per employee to work with?

Why make a profit when you can pay your employees >100% of your revenue and just go into debt instead? It's not how business works. You hire people if you need people, and you pay them the least you can get away with, so you maximize profits - because long ago, you raised money with the promise to the people you raised the money from that you would do this, and you have a Fiduciary obligation to do so...

Long ago capitalism and then neoliberalism infected our brains. There’s no rational reason why any of these promises were made in the first place while still having people without health care or a home.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#153

Post by WastingMyTime89 »

jsiepkes wrote: post #74
Sebb767 wrote: post #34

While there is no good way to do a mass-layoff, I don't particularly like the way this was communicated. There's a lot of flowery language and the fact that there will be massive layoffs is only said in passing in the third paragraph. This will never be good news, obviously, but please communicate the important facts clearly.

The only honest thing he could have said would be: "Look, in the end this about shareholder value and we need to sacrifice some people in order to create shareholder value. I know, it sucks, but let's not kid ourselves, we all knew that's the game we are playing here at Microsoft (or any publicly traded company). We got some nice perks while it lasted but unfortunately the party is over now. We will do our best to en…

To be honest, it's more like:

"Look, investors have low confidence in the market right now and all our competitors are doing it. I need to send a signal or the stock is going to keep going down and I wont get my full yearly bonus. In the end it's all about the quaterly share price. I know, it sucks, but let's not kid ourselves, we all knew that's the game we are playing here: go work for a small company if you want long term strategy. We might buy you when you are done innovating. You can always come back next year if it's a hiring market anyway."

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#154

Post by verst »

thr0w4w4ymsft wrote: post #2

MSFT manager of 25+ person team here with no actual heads up on this. The writing has been on the wall for months though from internal comms so this should come as a surprise to no one. No one on my team has any information about this beyond the Satya email, so this is either a "no news is good news" situation (assuming you don't actually want to be laid off), or a poorly executed process. I'm hoping for the former f…

I know some teams who had a sudden team meeting scheduled by their skip manager for 9 am today. I suspect this is how organization changes will be communicated to affected teams.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#155

Post by skinnymuch »

w0m wrote: post #67
shiftingleft wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft net income 2022: ~$70B. Why force pay cuts or fire workers when you have roughly $300k of net income per employee to work with?

The argument would be sustainability I believe.

Microsoft will survive even if they never fire another person for years.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#156

Post by [deleted] »

skinnymuch wrote: post #148
jstx1 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is the current round of layoffs an admission that the "software will eat the world" scenario will not happen or an indication that it can be done with even fewer tech employees? Either statement is reading too much into it. It's a reaction to economic conditions and the state of the labor market.

Or it’s a reaction to others laying off and not rational at all.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#157

Post by astrea »

ActionHank wrote: post #114
ketchupdebugger wrote: post #113

All the news is saying that its a mild recession but layoffs is a longer term solution in cost reduction. Basically Big Tech isn't optimistic about the industry for at least 2023. Is the recession going to be worse than we expect?

It seems like tech companies are being more severe with their layoffs because they were over aggressive with hiring during the pandemic. Many went through a massive surge in demand which they either thought was going to be permanent or had to hire to keep the machine moving.

I keep hearing this, and I would love to believe it, but does anyone have a concrete source that confirms this is the case?

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#158

Post by incrudible »

jonathankoren wrote: post #102
anthomtb wrote: post #81

Is Microsoft laying off executives too? Or will this only affect the rank and file? IME, if the company does not let go of executives, they are just tagging along with their peer companies on the layoff train. If they do make cuts at the VP/SVP level then the company really does have margin/profitability issues.

They’re laying people off because it’s cool to lay people off. Layoffs are social, not economical. https://news.stanford.edu/2022/12/05/explains-recent-tech-la...

If the evidence suggested that periodic layoffs are good for company longevity and profit margins, you can bet that none of these academics would shout it from the rooftops.

Moreover, none of the evidence was collected under the current economic environment, where a decade of cheap money and growth fantasies have fueled an unsustainable hiring frenzy.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#159

Post by vrc »

aaomidi wrote: post #140
jsiepkes wrote: post #65

Satya is appointed by shareholders, not by employees. Employees can't fire Satya. And while employees might give him a hard time for this, shareholders can definitely give him a harder time if they see a (potential) decline in dividend. So cutting cost to keep dividends steady with a decline in profitability and revenue is the easiest fight for him. While it sucks, when working for a large tech company which is publi…

Employees can strike. Let’s see how fast the stock tanks then :)

They won’t.

Re: Microsoft to lay off 10k workers

#160

Post by skinnymuch »

refurb wrote: post #119
whatever1 wrote: post #5

Families will get torn apart, people with health issues will be on their own, immigrants will get booted. C-suite will get a raise from the stock price bump. Congrats on our system.

I mean you could change the laws so that you get a job for life. Of course the countries with those laws have never created a company like MS in the first place, so..

American companies/privilege benefit from the US being the hegemonic imperialist power of the world while screwing over the Global South. Domestic America has arguably never created a company like MS either.
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