Rumours are spreading on the web that up to 3000 staff at Microsoft UK could face redundancy. Up to 30,000 jobs worldwide could be at risk, as the company battles with the economic crisis, which has led to businesses spending less on software.Henry Blodget, a blogger on Silicon Alley Insider, responded to the rumours saying, "The only way we could see Microsoft laying off this many people is if the company decided to eliminate business units. And if Microsoft did decide to restructure its business, it would likely sell rather than shut down divisions, including MSN."
According to analyst Datamonitor's "Technology Trends: Analysing Global Enterprise IT Budgets 2008" report, half of businesses will freeze their IT budgets in 2008. This budget freeze could have a big impact on Microsoft, which relies heavily on software sales, as businesses are deferring upgrading to the latest Microsoft products.
The coming year will be important for Microsoft, as it begins a major shift in the way it makes money, away from selling software licences, towards software as a services, based around its Azure cloud computing service.
Microsoft's plans to roll out Azure in Europe could be negatively affected if the rumoured job cuts go ahead.
Source: Computer Weekly - Cliff Saran, 11:08 05 Jan 2009
