Microsoft will layoff 18000 employees, most positions eliminated from Nokia
Following an email by Satya Nadella only recently, Microsoft announced major layoffs totalling to about 18000 employees getting the axe over the course of a year. Almost 12500 of these employees will be from Microsoft’s newly acquired Nokia assets.
In the note, Nadella said that 13000 of these positions will be downsized in the first wave itself while a majority of this number will be notified within six months. A number of them will be provided further information by their team leaders.
Without a doubt, Nokia will take a big hit in this round of layoffs ever since Microsoft brought on board almost 25000 of the Finnish company’s employees. What this indicates is that almost half of Nokia’s employees will be terminated. However, this will also mean that some of Microsoft’s positions will be eliminated to make way for some of the talent acquired from Nokia.
Nadella’s note also states that these layoffs will also cut a few layers of management giving way to a flatter organization. What will follow is the incorporation of Nokia’s device teams into Microsoft while also axing the Nokia X Android-based designs for the low-cost Lumia running hardware Windows Phone.
Employees will receive severance packages along with assistance to move on to new jobs in a number of locations, Nadella’s note said. The CEO will also host an internal Q&A and will be one to watch out for, considering these huge changes.
Google, not very differently, did the same by getting rid of 6000 jobs when they acquired Motorola. After incorporating the hardware division within its organization, they sold the entire unit to Lenovo.