US firm to lay off thousands of staff ,
including nearly half of Nokia employees who
joined in April after acquisition .

Microsoft has announced the biggest layoffs
in its 39 -year history , outlining plans to cut
18 , 000 jobs worldwive in a move that marks
the chief executive 's sharpest pivot yet away
from his predecessor's drive for the company
to make its own devices .

Although some job losses had been expected
ever since Microsoft acquired Nokia's mobile -
device unit, the number, which amounts to 14
percent of the Microsoft workforce , is about
twice the total analysts had estimated .

The cuts announced on Thursday will
include about 12 , 500 jobs associated with the
Nokia unit - nearly half of the 28 , 000
employees Microsoft brought on board in
April through the acquisition , the AP news
agency reported .

When the cuts are complete, the company will
still have about 10 , 000 more employees than
before the Nokia acquisition , with an overall
headcount of 109 , 000 .

In a public email to employees , chief
executive Satya Nadella, who was appointed
in February, said the changes were needed
for the company to " become more agile and
move faster " .

The move also pushes Nokia to focus solely on
the Windows Phone operating system .
Nadella is clearly backing away from
former chief executive Steve Ballmer 's
strategy of getting Microsoft to make its own
smartphones and tablets .

" He 's making a pretty serious game -changing
strategy move away from hardware , " said
Michael Turits, managing director of equity
research for financial services company
Raymond James and Associates .

Nadella indicated that Microsoft will largely
abandon low-price Nokia Asha phones - which
work on their own non -Windows operating
system - and reverse a strategically
questionable move by Nokia in February to
launch a line of phones called " X " that
supported rival Google 's Android platform .
" To win in the higher price tiers , we will focus
on breakthrough innovation that expresses
and enlivens Microsoft 's digital work and
digital life experiences , " Nadella said in the
memo.


Severance payments

About 1 , 350 Seattle -area workers around
Microsoft 's Redmond , Washington ,
headquarters were laid off on Thursday , as
were 1 , 800 workers in Hungary and nearly
370 in San Diego.

The Nokia cuts include 1 , 100 jobs in Finland .
In addition , the company is closing its Xbox
Entertainment Studios, a two -year -old
venture based in Santa Monica , California ,
that produced original video content but was
seen as separate from Microsoft 's core
business .

Microsoft expects charges of $ 1.1 bn to
$ 1.6 bn over the next four quarters, largely
for severance payments .
The move puts the company on track to meet
the target it set in September , when it
announced the Nokia purchase , of saving
$ 600 m in annual costs within 18 months after
the deal closed.
The move dwarfs Microsoft 's previous biggest
job cut , when it eliminated about 5, 800 jobs
in 2009 .

source: http://m.aljazeera.com/story/2014717235758630636