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[Phil's email shared] Microsoft to lay off 10,000 employees between now and March 31st. 343i, Bethesda Game Studios and The Coalition among impacted.

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LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 27, 2017
11,479
Wanted to start this thread by saying I wish all affected by these layoffs the best and that you bounce back quickly.

apnews.com

Job cuts in tech sector spread, Microsoft lays off 10,000

Microsoft is cutting 10,000 workers, almost 5% of its workforce, as it joins other tech companies in a scaling back of their pandemic-era expansions.
apnews.com apnews.com
Microsoft is cutting 10,000 workers, almost 5% of its workforce, joining other tech companies that have scaled back their pandemic-era expansions.

The company said it will also be making changes to its hardware portfolio and consolidating its leased office locations.
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"While we are eliminating roles in some areas, we will continue to hire in key strategic areas," Nadella said. He emphasized the importance of building a "new computer platform" using advances in artificial intelligence.
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"Quite frankly, we in the tech industry will also have to get efficient, right?" Nadella said. "It's not about everyone else doing more with less. We will have to do more with less. So we will have to show our own productivity gains with our own sort of technology."
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View: https://twitter.com/six6jiang/status/1616542702396493846


View: https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1615749864955969539
 
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HK-47

HK-47

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Oct 25, 2017
5,585
"Quite frankly, we in the tech industry will also have to get efficient, right?" Nadella said. "It's not about everyone else doing more with less. We will have to do more with less. So we will have to show our own productivity gains with our own sort of technology."
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What a bunch of bullshit.
 
Seraphs

Seraphs

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Handsome James

Handsome James

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Aug 23, 2018
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Overhiring during the pandemic leads to this type of fallout when the economy heads toward a recession unfortunately
 
BabyDontHurtMe

BabyDontHurtMe

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Dec 9, 2018
20,966
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Seraphs said:
the pandemic made all big tech hire like crazy, now that the market is settling down, theres not that much work to do

for comparision, tom warren posted this, microsoft almost doubled its workforce in a 4 years period.

2019: ~144,000 Microsoft employees
2020: ~163,000 Microsoft employees
2021: ~181,000 Microsoft employees
2022: ~221,000 Microsoft employees


View: https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1615745289020751872?s=20&t=BdUSj2ULnD-JtnMbN-2mJw
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Not sure how this necessitates mass layoffs
 
Smoshow

Smoshow

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Oct 25, 2017
1,632
Didn't we just see layoffs Microsoft like 2 months ago? And aren't they still raking I'm record profits every quarter? I just don't get it.
 
Gavalanche

Gavalanche

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Oct 21, 2021
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How can a company that is posting record profits and acquiring others for billions upon billions of dollars in spare cash they have laying around justify firing that many people? Its a load of crap.
 
Desodeset

Desodeset

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May 31, 2019
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Sofia, Bulgaria
BabyDontHurtMe said:
Not sure why this necessitates mass layoffs
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It's really cynical. The same Microsoft is buying ABK for 70B USD and adding another 10000 employees.

It's not because they don't have money, their business is still growing and they are posting record profits. It's because they need to please their shareholders as the user before me implied. This has always been the case.
 

Raigor

Member
May 14, 2020
15,132
10k people is a MASSIVE number, holy shit.

I really don't know why all big corps started to hire like crazy during COVID while knowing that eventually they will have to cut jobs in a couple of years?
 
entremet

entremet

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Oct 26, 2017
59,970
Smoshow said:
Didn't we just see layoffs Microsoft like 2 months ago? And aren't they still raking I'm record profits every quarter? I just don't get it.
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It's not based on profits anymore. It's based on expectations. To keep their stock price growing, they need to "prove" to investors that they can squeeze as much revenue they can at a lower OPEX.

Welcome to Capitalism.
 
Teiresias

Teiresias

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Oct 27, 2017
8,211
A company that can't afford to pay its employees shouldn't be about to close one of the biggest acquisitions in history. You can either afford to spend billions on an acquistion or you can pay your employees.
 
davidnolan13

davidnolan13

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Oct 27, 2017
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DisturbedSwan

DisturbedSwan

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Oct 25, 2017
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Absolutely disgusting, how a company boasting record profits and acquiring other companies for billions of dollars justify sacking loads of people? What a load of bollocks.
 
CabooseMSG

CabooseMSG

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Jun 27, 2020
2,187
Gotta love having to answer to shareholders. Perfect economy, no notes.

Everything is predicated on endless growth, its not enough to sustain record profits. Stock Market bloodsuckers always need more.
 
brokenswiftie

brokenswiftie

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May 30, 2018
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IMG_5978.png


Their profits have literally never been higher
Spending 69bn$ to buy another company with around the same No of employees

MS absolutely don't need to do this
Corporations are gonna be corporations
 
Bigg

Bigg

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,619
Seraphs said:
the pandemic made all big tech hire like crazy, now that the market is settling down, theres not that much work to do

for comparision, tom warren posted this, microsoft almost doubled its workforce in a 4 years period.

2019: ~144,000 Microsoft employees
2020: ~163,000 Microsoft employees
2021: ~181,000 Microsoft employees
2022: ~221,000 Microsoft employees
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Handsome James said:
Overhiring during the pandemic leads to this type of fallout when the economy heads toward a recession unfortunately
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I really don't buy this. Seems like a convenient excuse to stop paying salaries for ten thousand people. Are you really telling me Microsoft, a company that has a million different teams working on a million different projects, simply couldn't find stuff for these people to do?

Maybe I'm just cynical but I can't take any corporate explanation for this shit at face value.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

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Oct 25, 2017
115,493
brokenswiftie said:
IMG_5978.png


Their profits have literally never been higher
Spending 69bn$ to buy another company with around the same No of employees

MS absolutely don't need to do this
Corporations are gonna be corporations
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Yeah, it's very, very funny that they're talking about "doing more with less" while also AGGRESSIVELY trying to buy one of the biggest publishers on the planet.

And by funny I mean blatantly hypocritical.
 
AEF1907

AEF1907

Member
Dec 18, 2021
3,998
Wow so many people :(. Hope they can land on their feet very quick.
Also, fuck companies that fire employees even though they make billions in profit every year.
 
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Deleted member 6235

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,447
i'm sorry but it will never make any sense how they need to fire 10,000 people while buying a company for 70 billion, investing 10 billion in OpenAI and more investments/acquisition. insane stuff. this sucks.
 
Shalashaska

Shalashaska

Prophet of Regret
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Oct 25, 2017
1,423
So many of these tech layoffs feel like they're only happening because other tech companies are laying people off, and so shareholders demand blood. Microsoft makes an absurd amount of money after all.

Hope everyone lands on their feet.
 
jmsebastian

jmsebastian

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Nov 14, 2019
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Handsome James said:
Overhiring during the pandemic leads to this type of fallout when the economy heads toward a recession unfortunately
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They only "overhired" if you look at it from the point of view of management, which is the wrong way to look at it. Corporate profiteering is what drives inflation. Having employees eats into profits, so they are always the ones who take the fall. It's an active choice to lay people off to weaken the labor market so they can pay less for work.
 
Smoshow

Smoshow

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Oct 25, 2017
1,632
entremet said:
It's not based on profits anymore. It's based on expectations. To keep their stock price growing, they need to "prove" to investors that they can squeeze as much revenue they can at a lower OPEX.

Welcome to Capitalism.
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Former Microsoft employee here, I saw it first hand. You'd sit in a meeting one day and talk about how we're making record profits and doing great and then they lay off a division a week later. It was so strange. Always told you're doing great and no one's job is in jeopardy until it is. My whole division was layed off 9 months after I left.
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
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Oct 26, 2017
59,970
Handsome James said:
It's not BS it's capitalism. It doesn't suck any less for the workers though.
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The justification is BS, tho.

I know what you're saying. They did not overhire--you're just repeating their BS talking points. You don't need to parrot that shit like a lemming for corporations.

Wall Street just wants greater earnings per share price. To do that you can either increase revenues--not likely days, plus it is already knocked out of the park--or lower expenses. They did the latter.

"Overhiring" is just subtle gaslighting.

Just give it to me raw. We care about shareholders more than our employees and drop the facade.
 
Azerth

Azerth

Prophet of Truth - Chicken Chaser
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Oct 27, 2017
6,176
I hope everyone lands on there feet. layoffs suck no matter the reason. ms has more then enough money to keep them employed.
 
gofreak

gofreak

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,734
Granjinha said:
i'm sorry but it will never make any sense how they need to fire 10,000 people while buying a company for 70 billion, investing 10 billion in OpenAI and more investments/acquisition. insane stuff. this sucks.
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Wait for them to encourage people to use ChatGPT in lieu of help from their former colleagues.
 
ArkhamFantasy

ArkhamFantasy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,544
Gavalanche said:
How can a company that is posting record profits and acquiring others for billions upon billions of dollars in spare cash they have laying around justify firing that many people? Its a load of crap.
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Making record profits doesnt matter, they want all of the money and if they believe laying people off helps make that a reality they'll do it.

Grow, grow, grow, thats all that matters.
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

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Oct 27, 2017
14,611
Gotta appease the Wall Street gods.

Hope for a quick bounce back for those affected.
 
Witchcraft

Witchcraft

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Oct 9, 2022
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One of the richest companies on earth, one that's actively trying to acquire another gaming company in one of the largest deals ever for 69bn, and they have to do this? Fuck off. Feel for all those laid off and hope they land on their feet quickly.
 
platypotamus

platypotamus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,350
Use that quote about how they have to learn to do more with less to to block their acquisition of Activision Blizzard you useless fucks in the FTC
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
59,970
Smoshow said:
Former Microsoft employee here, I saw it first hand. You'd sit in a meeting one day and talk about how we're making record profits and doing great and then they lay off a division a week later. It was so strange. Always told you're doing great and no one's job is in jeopardy until it is. My whole division was layed off 9 months after I left.
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Job security is a myth sadly.

Long gone are the Company Man days or retiring with a Gold Watch.

This is why I laugh at all these Quiet Quitting, No One Wants Work narratives. Companies are transactional and don't care about you. Workers need to learn to have the same mindset.

Younger generations are learning this and corporations are getting mad.

You still see conservative talk about put on your "Work Boots" nonsense. It's brainwashing.
 
CabooseMSG

CabooseMSG

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Jun 27, 2020
2,187
ArkhamFantasy said:
Making record profits doesnt matter, they want all of the money and if they believe laying people off helps make that a reality they'll do it.

Grow, grow, grow, thats all that matters.
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Yup, shareholders want their investment to make them more and more money, only way to do that is continuously increase profits. Workers get laid off so the rich can get richer hiding their wealth in the market.
 
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