Microsoft cuts 3,000 jobs, rounding out July plan [View all]

[OhioChick]

Source: Reuters

SEATTLE Wed Oct 29, 2014 2:41pm EDT


(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said on Wednesday it cut about 3,000 jobs, effectively completing its plan to reduce its workforce by 18,000, or 14 percent of total staff, announced in July.

The majority of the 18,000 job cuts were in the phone handset business Microsoft acquired from Nokia (NOK1V.HE) earlier this year.

“We’ve taken another step that will complete almost all the 18,000 reductions announced in July," said a Microsoft spokesman. "The reductions happening today are spread across many different business units and many different countries.”

He said 638 of Wednesday's cuts were in Microsoft's home state of Washington, where it has its Redmond headquarters.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/29/us-microsoft-employment-idUSKBN0II24A20141029?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

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Meanwhile...

Microsoft, frustrated as ever with H-1B policy, considers options

WASHINGTON – A two-day conference on high-skilled immigration policy, which attracted researchers from the U.S. and Europe, offered Microsoft an opportunity to voice frustration over U.S. immigration policy.

William Kamela, a senior federal policy lead at Microsoft who detailed the stakes and options his company faces, said the firm will apply for “roughly” 1,000 H-1B visas in next April’s application period. “And we will get maybe 50% of those,” assuming there is another visa lottery, he said. Lotteries are held once the overall 85,000 cap is exceeded.

The company’s argument for access to more high-skilled foreign workers seems unaffected by its recent layoffs, even if the number of H-1B workers it seeks next year is potentially smaller than in some previous years. In 2013, Microsoft, for instance, received approval for 1,048 H-1B visas.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2687534/microsoft-frustrated-as-ever-with-h-1b-policy-considers-options.html