Microsoft Cutting 5000 Jobs

Arms manufacturer and software giant, Microsoft, is cutting up to 5000 jobs over the next year and a half -- including 1400 immediately.

While they reported a near $5 billion profit for 2008, that was down 11% from 2007 and less than analysts' expectations. Microsoft said they could not predict future market performance due to "volatile market conditions." Shares fell nearly 8% in the wake of the announcements.

The cuts will come from several areas: Research and development (R&D), marketing, sales, financial, legal, human resources, and information technology -- the latter of which The Cyberculturalist could have sworn they'd been saving money on for years. Further, cuts will be made in other areas, notably travel expenditures. Microsoft expects to reduce their annual overhead by nearly $1.5 billion.

One analyst said that while Microsoft is trying to downplay the cuts, "...it's sending a signal that the times are definitely changing."

Not mentioned was the fact that Microsoft is currently being eyeballed by the EU once again, after already being fined a record $1.4 billion for unfair trade practices.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008