
Microsoft
Corp will close its Silicon Valley research and development operation
as part of 2,100 layoffs announced on Thursday, as it moves toward its
new CEO's goal of cutting 18,000 staff, or about 14% of its workforce.
News
of the closure of the Microsoft Research lab at the company's campus in
Mountain View, California, was first made public on Twitter by
employees. The company later confirmed the move and said it would
involve the loss of 50 jobs.
A
spokesman said Microsoft Research, which has over 1,000 scientists and
engineers worldwide working on new product ideas, will consolidate its
US work at Microsoft's main campus in Redmond, Washington, and in
offices in New York and Boston.
After the cuts, Microsoft said it will still have 2,500 employees at its Mountain View campus, not far from rival Google Inc.
Microsoft
is cutting 160 jobs in California, and another 747 in the Seattle area,
a spokesman said, as part of a total of 2,100 layoffs around the world.
This
is the second wave of cuts after it laid off 13,000 in July, which
marked the start of chief executive Satya Nadella's plan to lay off
18,000 people overall. That means 2,900 more layoffs coming over the
next nine months or so.
Thursday's
cuts were spread over different countries and teams, the spokesman
said. The last wave of cuts mostly affected the handset business of
Nokia, which Microsoft bought earlier this year.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon