Microsoft Sends 3,000 Employees Packing

Microsoft yesterday sent out pink slips to thousands of workers.

Back in January the company reported revenue of $16.6 billion for the quarter, $900 million lower than it expected. That same day, Microsoft announced it would be cutting 5,000 jobs over the next year and a half. 1,400 layoffs were immediate.

This week, the company let 3,000 more members of staff go. Steve Ballmer said in an email that the company was “mostly but not all done” with the planned cuts to be completed by June 2010.

“With this announcement, we are mostly but not all done with the planned 5,000 job eliminations by June 2010. We are moving quickly to reach this target in response to consistent feedback from our people and business groups that it’s important to make decisions and reduce uncertainty for employees as quickly as possible, and so that organizations can concentrate their efforts and resources on strategic objectives."

In January's memo, the CEO said the company will continue to hire as it fires: “As part of the process of adjustments, we will eliminate up to 5,000 positions in R&D, marketing, sales, finance, LCA, HR, and IT over the next 18 months, of which 1,400 will occur today. We'll also open new positions to support key investment areas during this same period of time. Our net headcount in these functions will decline by 2,000 to 3,000 over the next 18 months.” Laoffs are expected to save $1.5bn in operating costs.

Check out the rest of Ballmers email on ZDNet.