Archive for the 'Microsoft' Category
Friday, September 4th, 2009
Microsoft is laying off 27 employees in Redmond and Bellevue, according to the Washington State Employment Security Department.
The company said in January it was planning to eliminate 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, while still creating 2,000 to 3,000 new jobs.
Source: The Seattle Times
Posted in H1B, IT, India, Microsoft, Technology, US, labor department, software | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
Microsoft Corp. agreed to hire no less than 400 Yahoo Inc. employees once the companies’ planned Internet search advertising partnership begins, Yahoo said late Tuesday. In addition, Microsoft agreed to pay Yahoo $150 million over three years to help cover Yahoo’s costs in getting the partnership started, Yahoo disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Source: MarketWatch
Posted in H1B, IT, Microsoft, Technology, US, Yahoo, outsourcing, software | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
So much for the “boatload of money” Carol Bartz wanted from Microsoft in return for a search deal with Yahoo. Instead, Yahoo’s chief executive settled for a deal that wouldn’t fill a bathtub. The transaction involves no cash upfront and gives Microsoft what it has always wanted: effective control over Yahoo’s search business.
Source: WSJ
Reuters: “Yahoo investors disappointed, but hold out hope” [..] “Bartz said on the earnings call the company is now hiring more engineers and sales and marketing staff as it invests in new products and branding.”
Posted in Ad Industry, Google, H1B, IT, Microsoft, Technology, US, Yahoo, advertising, outsourcing, software | No Comments »
Friday, June 5th, 2009
Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steven Ballmer said the world’s largest software company would move some employees offshore if Congress enacts President Barack Obama’s plans to impose higher taxes on U.S. companies’ foreign profits.
“It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,” Ballmer said in an interview. “We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S.”
Source: Bloomberg
~News submitted by upthecreek
Posted in Microsoft, outsourcing | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
Microsoft on Tuesday notified more than 3,000 workers that it was eliminating their jobs.
The software maker said in January that it would cut up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months. It made 1,400 cuts at the time. With the second wave of notifications on Tuesday, Microsoft has cut nearly all 5,000 jobs already.
Source: CNet News
Posted in Microsoft | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
More jobs could be cut at Microsoft Corp., according to a prominent analyst who covers the company.
Sid Parakh of McAdams Wright Ragen brokerage in Seattle said Monday in a note to investors that “over the last week, we have heard from multiple sources that Microsoft may engage in additional restructuring activities in the near-to-mid term.”
Source: Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)
Posted in Microsoft, Rumor | No Comments »
Monday, April 20th, 2009
Update 1 (4-20-2009)
According to Reuters: “Oracle Corp plans to enter the computer hardware market by buying Sun Microsystems Inc for more than $7 billion, swooping in after Sun’s talks with IBM fell apart.”
Update 2 (4-20-2009)
According to Reuters: “Microsoft’s chief executive said on Monday he was ‘very surprised‘ by Oracle Corp’s plans to buy Sun Microsystems Inc.”
According to WSJ: “Given Sun’s relatively low operating margins, there’s no doubt plenty of fat to cut in areas like sales and marketing.”
According to ComputerWorld: “More layoffs are expected at Sun Microsystems Inc. as a result of Oracle Corp.’s planned $7.4 billion acquisition, with one Wall Street analyst predicting today that as many as 10,000 people could lose their jobs at the Silicon Valley icon.”
~ LayOffBlog.com: Please feel free to share your comments ~
Posted in Asia, FYI, H1B, IBM, IT, IT consulting, India, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, Technology, US, hardware, outsourcing, silicon valley, software | 19 Comments »
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Indian outsourcers, along with Microsoft and Google, again lead the list of companies bringing foreign workers to the U.S. on the H-1B visa program.
According to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS), Four India-based companies topped the list:
Infosys Technologies (INFY, India): 4,559 H-1B visas approved in 2008, 4,559 in 2007
Wipro (WIT, India): 2,678 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 2,567 in 2007
Satyam (SAY, India): 1,917 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 1,396 in 2007
Tata (TCS.BO, India): 1,539 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 797 in 2007
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT): 1,018 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 959 in 2007
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG): 248 H-1B visas approved in 2008
Lehman Brothers: 130 H-1B visas approved in 2008
In fiscal year 2007, six of the top 10 visa recipients were based in India; two others among the top 10, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) and UST Global, are headquartered in the U.S. but have most of their operations in India, according to BusinessWeek
- The H-1B program, which started in 1990, was set up to allow U.S. companies to import the best and brightest in technology, engineering, and other fields when such workers are in short supply domestically.
- The H-1B visa program is currently capped at 65,000 per year, with another 20,000 set aside for advanced-degree graduates of U.S. universities.
USCIS will begin taking H-1B applications for the next fiscal year on April 1 and will distribute the new visas on Oct. 1.
Source: U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS)
Posted in FYI, Google, H1B, IT, IT consulting, India, Microsoft, US, outsourcing | 29 Comments »
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
According to AP, CNBC: “Microsoft Corp. is slashing overtime, hours and pay for U.S. temporary workers as part of an overall push to curb expenses during the recession.
Microsoft will cut what it pays the staffing agencies by 10 percent for current projects and won’t raise the rate it pays for temporary workers who return after a mandatory annual 100-day break. The company also plans to reduce overtime and the total number of hours clocked by temporary workers.”
~News submitted by upthecreek
Posted in H1B, IT consulting, Microsoft, US, software | No Comments »
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
According to AP: “A few weeks after launching the first wide-scale layoffs in its history, Microsoft Corp. admits it screwed up a key part of the plan.
First Microsoft realized that an administrative glitch caused it to pay more severance than intended to some laid-off employees. The company’s response: It asked the ex-workers for the money back.
But when one of Microsoft’s letters seeking repayment surfaced on the Web on Saturday, the situation turned embarrassing. On Monday, the company reversed course and said the laid-off workers could keep the extra payouts.”
Posted in FYI, Microsoft, US | 4 Comments »
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
Microsoft is asking some of the workers it laid off in late January to pay back money they were given in excess of their severance packages. The Redmond-based company is blaming an accounting error and expects repayments within two weeks.
After making 1400 staff redundant, Microsoft reportedly overpaid some of those former employees and underpaid others at the same time. Those who were overpaid were reportedly sent letters requesting for a refund.
Source: PC World
Posted in Microsoft, US | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
According to the Washington State WARN filings, Microsoft is going to lay off 872 employees at Redmond starting March 23rd.
The company earlier announced cutting 5000 jobs within 18 month from January 2009.
Posted in Microsoft, US | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
Even as Microsoft lays off up to 5,000 employees from some positions over the next 18 months, it says it plans to hire an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people in others. Although it needs to cut back on expenses overall, the company says it will keep hiring to support its business strategy in key areas.
Microsoft will “continue to hire in most of the areas it has been investing in, areas such as online services, search and cloud computing, to name a few,” a company representative said in a statement this week.
Source: MSNBC
Posted in Microsoft, US | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
In wake of impending layoffs, Microsoft has released a preliminary response to a U.S. Senator who wants the software giant to cut non-citizens first.
Microsoft’s answer states that it will indeed layoff a significant number of H-1B temporary work visa holders but that their visiting worker status will not be the primary criterion when it comes to deciding who will stay and who will go.
Microsoft officials said they will respond to Senator Grassley’s request for a direct response. However, while the company’s initial response is polite, it doesn’t say it will meet Grassley’s request.
Source: internetnews.com
Posted in H1B, Microsoft, US | 39 Comments »
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
According to Reuters: “A U.S. senator has asked Microsoft Corp about its plans to slash up to 5,000 jobs, urging the world’s biggest software company to preserve the jobs of Americans ahead of foreigners working on visas.”
“The letter asked Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to provide a breakdown of the jobs to be eliminated, and how many of those are individuals with H-1B visas and how many are Americans. Grassley also wants to know what the breakdown will be when the layoffs are complete.”
“I am concerned that Microsoft will be retaining foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American employees when it implements its layoff plan [...] Microsoft has a moral obligation to protect these American workers by putting them first during these difficult economic times”, said Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican.
Posted in Government, H1B, India, Microsoft, US, software | 74 Comments »
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
Redmond, Washington-based ACES Studio, the Microsoft-owned internal group behind the venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator series, has been heavily affected by Microsoft’s ongoing job cuts.
A large portion of the dev house’s staff has been let go - with multiple reports indicating that the entire Flight Simulator team has been axed.
Update: Microsoft has confirmed the closure of ACES Studio. Former ACES developer Phil Taylor claims in a blog post that six employees were retained to fulfill contractual duties, and Flight Simulator may continue to exist as a franchise in some other form.
Source: Gamasutra
Posted in Microsoft, US, entertainment, gaming | No Comments »
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Software maker Microsoft Corp. announced Thursday it will cut up to 5,000 jobs in the next year and a half, or 5.5% of its global workforce, citing further deterioration of global economic conditions.
Microsoft will slash 1,400 positions immediately, with the rest of the cuts coming by June 2010. The company also said it will freeze employees’ pay in 2009.
Source: CNNMoney
Posted in IT, Microsoft, US | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
According to Reuters: “Microsoft Corp is expected to post a quarterly profit that misses its own target and announce thousands of job cuts this week as the global economic slump hurts even the technology industry’s biggest players.”
“Checks indicate that Microsoft is likely to engage in headcount reductions to the tune of 6,000 to 8,000 employees or 6 percent to 8 percent of its 95,000 workforce, ” said McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Sid Parakh. Other analysts suggest the cost reductions may occur in the next few weeks and could also include more targeted cutbacks and attrition, rather than the big number of layoffs that some have speculated.
- Microsoft has declined to comment on any likelihood of job cuts.
Posted in IT, Microsoft, Technology, US, software | No Comments »
