Software giant Microsoft will lay off 18,000 employees, starting July 17. The number represents fifteen percent of its workforce. This layoff breaks the company’s biggest layoff record from 2009, where 5,800 employees were let go due to economic downturn.
In the latest round of cuts, those in the engineering, sales and marketing departments will be most affected. The majority of the cuts – 12,000 – will come from Nokia’s devices and services department. The company reported finding redundancies between the two companies’ professional and factory workers. The short lived Nokia X Android smartphone will also be axed.
Company CEO, Satya Nadella, stated how the brand needed a “culture change.” Microsoft’s competitors, Amazon, Google and Apple, have all beaten the company in sales and technological gains in the mobile and cloud industry.
Employees will have an opportunity to question Nadella about the cuts on Friday at a regular town hall meeting that was scheduled before the exact timing of the layoffs was known.
Despite its mass layoff, Microsoft are looking to hire in “strategic areas.”
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