Microsoft cuts jobs in mobile overhaul

Microsoft axed 18,000 jobs from the unit last July – the deepest cuts in the company’s history. “In the near term, we’ll run a more effective and focused phone portfolio business while retaining capability for long-term reinvention in mobility”. The company said it would be the last Windows release, and the first one to be more of a service, and less of a product.

Other recent moves include handing off some its digital advertising business to AOL and selling its street-image mapping operation to Uber. An earlier layoff of around 18,000 employees was also mostly aimed at the phone business.

Now the company says it will write down more than the entire cost of buying Nokia in the fourth quarter and also take a $750 million to $850 million restructuring charge.

Microsoft did what it eventually had to do in order to make its executives in the corporate world richer. Microsoft bought aQuantive for $6.3 billion in a bid to increase its role in the online ad sector that was dominated by the likes of Google and Yahoo. Microsoft will cut up to 7,800 positions, primarily in the phone business.

Microsoft had about 118,000 employees worldwide at the end of March, according to its website, with about half in the US. Windows-based phones stood at third spot with market share of 2.7 percent.

Microsoft: We told you earlier that the tech giant Microsoft is going with a major restructuring of its mobile devices business and that it would cut 7,800 jobs.

Creative Strategies analyst, Ben Bajarin said narrowing the focus on mobile will allow the company to devote its resources to its strongest areas like software and cloud development, noting that the company has served mobile phone customers ranging from low end to premium tier.

Microsoft is due to start rolling out Windows 10 later this month, introducing a new operating system that can be used to power not only personal computers but a range of mobile devices. Yet because Microsoft is aware of that consumers have shifted more of their time to mobile, it is imperative for Microsoft to remain in the market through a successful Windows 10 launch, said Daniel Ives, analyst at FBR Capital Markets. Nadella sent a companywide email in late June meant to rally employees for the coming year.