Microsoft has been undergoing massive restructuring since Satya Nadella took the reins as Chief Executive from Steve Ballmer last year. It started with the mass layouts of staff carried over from the Nokia mobile devices division buyout to the most recent exit of key senior executives like the Devices and Services unit’s Stephen Elop. Now The New York Times is reporting that the axe is expected to fall on more Microsoft staff.
As per the report, the downsizing that will see the American technology giant shed off some of its 118,000 strong staff, will affect those in the hardware group as well as other parts of the business. This means that Microsoft’s smartphone business which has already been targeted in the layoffs before is set to lose more manpower as the company streamlines things.
Microsoft is increasingly looking to its well grounded software and enterprise solutions business to take it forward in the wake of failure by its own smartphone business to pick up. While it hasn’t given up yet on mobile, its approach still remains cloud first, mobile first, the company has opened up like never before by making almost all its core user services available on competing mobile platforms. Microsoft’s mobile efforts are expected to get a reboot when the company unveils a new mobile platform, Windows 10 Mobile, and new flagship Windows smartphones later in the year.
Microsoft recently sold off its online advertising business to media company AOL.
