Microsoft’s Job Cuts Continue with Hundreds of Layoffs in Redmond and London

Microsoft continues its restructuring process following the acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services unit with a new round of layoffs, this time impacting the firm’s offices in Redmond and London.

These job cuts are part of the wave announced by Microsoft earlier this year in July and are supposed to be completed by the end of the fiscal year 2017.

Part of the layoffs took place in Puget Sound, Washington region, and some Redmond employees updated their status on social media to reflect that they have left the company, according to a report by ZDNet.

Furthermore, the Financial Times revealed that Microsoft let go of all its employees at the Skype office in London, so approximately 220 jobs were eliminated in addition to the other 300 globally and in Redmond.

Streamlining the mobile unit

The majority of job cuts that Microsoft announced following the takeover of Nokia’s Devices and Services unit impacted its mobile unit, and the firm said that the July 2016 round was an extension to the original job cut announced earlier this year.

“In addition to the elimination of 1,850 positions that were announced in May 2016, approximately 2,850 roles globally will be reduced during the year as an extension of the earlier plan, and these actions are expected to be completed by the end of the fiscal year 2017,” the firm explained.

According to the company itself, there were 114,000 full-time employees in June, out of which 63,000 were working in the United States.

“Of the total employed people, 38,000 were in operations, including manufacturing, distribution, product support, and consulting services; 37,000 in product research and development; 29,000 in sales and marketing; and 10,000 in general and administration,” Microsoft explained.

The closure of Skype’s London office comes as a big surprise, especially because this location wasn’t necessarily involved in the mobile strategy. Microsoft, however, is looking to streamline more of its projects, so moving part of the focus toward United States operations could be one way to do that.