Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it was laying off 800 more workers, bringing its previously-announced layoff plan to a close. Microsoft revealed in January that it would lay off about 5,000 people this year as part of efforts to reduce costs. But with this last round of layoffs, the total is closer to 5,800.
"Earlier this year, we announced that in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency and prioritize our focus areas, we would eliminate approximately 5,000 positions by June 2010," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "Today, we are eliminating around 800 positions spread across multiple businesses and locations and have completed our reduction plan sooner than we had anticipated 11 months ago."
"At the same time, we continue to hire in priority areas, but also understand that continuing to manage our businesses closely, as we always do, can mean additional headcount adjustments," he added. Microsoft has actually added 2,000 new workers this year as well, with hires for important business markets such as web search.
People affected by the layoffs come from around the company, including about 200 in Microsoft's Redmond headquarters. With the conclusion of its first-ever massive-scale layoff, Microsoft still has about 90,000 employees worldwide.
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