There are rumors going around that Microsoft will be laying off a hefty portion of its workforce after the first of the year:
Rumors. Microsoft layoff and cut-backs and Reduction In Force rumors. That’s all I have for you. Rumors and second-hand speculation and the comments left by the fine, good-looking folks who participate in the conversation here. So pour yourself some holiday cheer and dive in.
What have those fine folks been sharing over the past couple of posts here? Bad news on the rise and with perhaps January 15th 2009 as an interesting day for Microsoft news. Bad news.
2008 was a strong year for Microsoft.
It’s something I’ve mentioned before but laying people off because you don’t have the money to pay them is one thing; laying people off because you want to keep your dividends high in the toughest employment situation in decades is something else entirely.
Why aren’t we hearing more about this kind of stuff in the professional media?
“Why aren’t we hearing more about this kind of stuff in the professional media?”
Would it have anything to do with “Media’s” commercialism?
Perhaps because shareholders as a whole don’t give a rats a@# about employees, they only care about the bottom line. I’m not exactly sure when we started being so short term with investments, but it seems that if a company doesn’t consistently reward (?) shareholders with a decent dividend they get in hot water.
Long term planning, interest in retaining “corporate knowledge, and investment in the future don’t seem to be very common activities in corporate America anymore.
My group at Microsoft is still hiring. There’s 1235 open positions in the US listed on the public careers website. Curious behavior for a company planning layoff. But then, planning layoffs would be curious behaviour for a highly profitable company with $20 billion in the bank.