14 DAY TRIAL // China is becoming a very hostile market for Microsoft, as the company is currently under investigation by the local government for possible anti-trust violation, while Windows 8 is banned on state computers.
Now the software giant is experiencing new issues, as hundreds of Chinese employees at a Nokia factory have been protesting for five hours due to the layoffs that CEO Satya Nadella announced a couple of weeks ago.
A report by ITProPortal reveals that employees were also waving banners and shouting slogans against the company, with some screaming until “they had sore throats.” One of the banners was blasting “Microsoft’s hostile takeover and violent layoffs,” with most of the protesters afraid that they could lose their jobs after Redmond’s acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services unit.
Nadella announced that approximately 18,000 employees would be fired in the next 12 months, with approximately 12,500 of these job cuts to impact Nokia’s workforce that joined the company after the acquisition.
In a press statement, Microsoft said that this layoff should help the company reduce costs and thus integrate the newly-purchased unit into its own business faster.
“Of the total, about 12,500 professional and factory positions will be eliminated through synergies and strategic alignment of the Nokia Devices and Services business acquired by Microsoft on April 25,” Microsoft said.
“The company expects to incur pre-tax charges of $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion over the next four quarters, including $750 million to $800 million for severance and related benefit costs, and $350 million to $800 million of asset-related charges,” it added.
People familiar with the matter said that all Microsoft divisions would be impacted by this layoff, with Windows, which is currently one of the key units within the company, expected to lose some testers in the coming months.
Nadella, however, guarantees that despite the layoff, product development would go faster, as skilled staff is added to strategic roles in order to ensure a smoother process between product planning and public launches.
“It’s important to note that while we are eliminating roles in some areas, we are adding roles in certain other strategic areas. My promise to you is that we will go through this process in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible. We will offer severance to all employees impacted by these changes, as well as job transition help in many locations, and everyone can expect to be treated with the respect they deserve for their contributions to this company,” he explained.
All employees who are being laid off are expected to get notifications in the next six months, Nadella has said, but many claim they already heard the news from their product managers.